An early lunar-based telescope - The Lunar Transit Telescope (LTT)

The first telescope accompanying return to the moon, a simple but elegant two meter class instrument capable of producing an extraordinary survey of the universe is proposed. This telescope produces a deep image of the sky obtained simultaneously in several broad bandpasses in the wavelength range from about 0.1 to 2 microns, with diffraction limited imaging in the infrared and approximately 0.1 arcsec resolution at shorter wavelengths. In an 18.6 year mission, the survey would include approximately 2 percent of the sky with multiple observations of all the surveyed area. This survey is accomplished with a telescope which has no moving parts and requires no continuing support beyond initial deployment.