The recently completed study for the Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Telescope (ATLAST) was the culmination of three years of work that built upon earlier engineering designs, science objectives, and sustained recommendations for technology investments. Since the mid-1980s, multiple teams of astronomers, technologists, and engineers have developed concepts for a large-aperture UV/optical/IR space observatory to follow the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Especially over the past decade, technology advances and exciting scientific results has led to growing support for development in the 2020s of a large UVOIR space observatory. Here we summarize the history of major mission designs, scientific goals, key technology recommendations, community workshops and conferences, and recommendations to NASA for a major UV/optical/IR observatory to follow HST. We conclude with a capsule summary of the ATLAST reference design developed over the past three years.
Path to a UV/optical/IR Flagship: ATLAST and Its Predecessors
2016
27 pages
Report
No indication
English
Optics & Lasers , Astronomy & Celestial Mechanics , Photographic Techniques & Equipment , Apertures , Spaceborne astronomy , Spaceborne telescopes , Ultraviolet telescopes , Infrared telescopes , Optical equipment , Mission planning , Technology assessment , Hubble space telescope , Astrophysics , Honeycomb mirrors