NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Path to a UV/Optical/IR Flagship: Review of ATLAST and Its PredecessorsOur recently completed study for the Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) was the culmination of three years of initially internally funded work that built upon earlier engineering designs, science objectives, and technology priorities. Beginning in the mid-1980s, multiple teams of astronomers, technologists, and engineers developed concepts for a large-aperture UV/optical/IR space observatory intended to follow the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Here, we summarize since the first significant conferences on major post-HST ultraviolet, optical, and infrared (UVOIR) observatories the history of designs, scientific goals, key technology recommendations, and community workshops. Although the sophistication of science goals and the engineering designs both advanced over the past three decades, we note the remarkable constancy of major characteristics of large post-HST UVOIR concepts. As it has been a priority goal for NASA and science communities for a half-century, and has driven much of the technology priorities for major space observatories, we include the long history of concepts for searching for Earth-like worlds. We conclude with a capsule summary of our ATLAST reference designs developed by four partnering institutions over the past three years, which was initiated in 2013 to prepare for the 2020 National Academies' Decadal Survey.
Document ID
20170006206
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Thronson, Harley
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Bolcar, Matthew R.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Clampin, Mark
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Crooke, Julie
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Feinberg, Lee
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Oegerle, William
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Rioux, Norman
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Stahl, H. Philip
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Stapelfeldt, Karl
(Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Date Acquired
July 7, 2017
Publication Date
July 8, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
Publisher: Proceedings of SPIE
Volume: 2
Issue: 4
ISSN: 2329-4124
e-ISSN: 2329-4221
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN44130
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
exoplanets
HDST
optical systems
LUVOIR
space telescope
ATLAST

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available