US ELT Program: TMT Design and Development

In the 2030s a new era in astronomy will begin with the commissioning of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) with apertures in the 25 to 40-meter range. These facilities will be key to answering many of the fundamental questions raised in the recent National Academies decadal survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, “Astro2020”, which identified U.S. involvement in future ELTs as its top priority for ground-based astronomy.

One of these facilities will be the Thirty Meter Telescope, to be built by TMT International Observatory (TIO) and with a preferred site in Hawai’i. TMT will have the spatial resolution (12 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope and 4.6 times the JWST) and sensitivity (with adaptive optics, ~200 times more sensitive than 8-m telescopes) to probe and characterize the most distant and earliest galaxies, to study the formation of stellar systems across cosmic time, and to characterize exoplanets — most notably their atmospheres that may reveal possible signatures of life.

TMT will address some of humanity’s biggest questions about the universe itself and our place within it.

Development and risk reduction activities will be concentrated in four key areas: 1) TIO will complete M2 preliminary design, including optimized passive mechanical support, M2 positioner stage design with electronics and control system, finite-element analysis performance models and Preliminary Design review documentation; 2) TIO will complete preliminary design for the alignment and phasing system, including performance analysis, prototyping, systems engineering, and software development; 3) TIO will complete preliminary design and prototyping of components for the primary mirror control system, namely the segment controller and cabling electronics, software, and actuators; and 4) TIO will complete the preliminary design of the tertiary mirror system, one of the key optical elements that defines the quality of the delivered images. Some of the key technologies developed as part of this proposal will directly benefit the U.S. astronomical community by advancing the state of the art of critical components that will be required by the current and future generations of astronomical facilities.

Specifically, advances in the primary mirror control system technology will directly benefit any future effort to use segmented mirrors, while the work related to the secondary mirror system will further the development of control systems for large convex secondary mirrors. Similarly, the tertiary mirror system work will develop technologies that will benefit any future large telescope project and ensure U.S. leadership in the field.

The project will document and publish the results of their work, promote diversity in their workforce and partners, and expose early career colleagues to new technology, a key effort in developing the next generation of telescope and instrument builders.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.