Development of the US Extremely Large Telescope Program

美国极大望远镜计划的发展

• 批准号: 2013059
• 负责人: Charles Mattias Mountain
• 金额: $ 2334万
• 依托单位: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2013059&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Development; US; Extremely; Large; Telescope

The United States Extremely Large Telescope Program (U.S. ELT Program) will coordinate the activities of three organizations, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), and NSF’s National Optical-infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NSF’s NOIRLab). Together these three organizations aim to provide access to two new and very large telescopes, the GMT and TMT, for all U.S. astronomers. This award will fund planning for this activity; it will not fund any construction activities. It will also support important development work for the GMT (no funding is being provided to the TMT). The award will help the GMT advance state-of-the-art technologies that will make sure the telescope, once built, produces the sharpest images possible. Important components of a prototype for one of the seven secondary mirrors and a system to support and maintain the shape of each of the seven 8-meter primary mirrors will be developed; a new “adaptive optics” systems will also be tested. At the same time, NSF’s NOIRLab will develop plans that would allow astronomers to easily use both telescopes and quickly access their observations. Young scientists and engineers will be involved in this work. Together, the GMT and TMT will allow scientists from diverse backgrounds to observe the entire sky as never before.The TMT and GMT are targeted to be built in the mid-to-late 2020s, provided that all approvals are in place. Under this Award, NSF’s NOIRLab will develop a plan to collaborate with both the GMT and TMT to secure observing time on both telescopes for the broader US community if the telescopes are ultimately constructed. The plan would enable transformational research using these two next-generation, ground-based, optical-infrared observing platforms. If constructed, GMT and TMT would be two of only three 20 to 40-meter class Extremely Large Telescopes in existence in the 2030s. The collaboration, dubbed the “US ELT Program,” would permit scientists anywhere in the US to lead projects that require large allocations of observing time on the GMT and TMT, taking advantage of their full sky coverage and diverse instrumentation and observing capabilities. The TMT and GMT would open a new discovery space in astronomy and astrophysics, enabling forefront research in fields ranging from the search for biomarkers in the atmosphere of planets around other stars to studies of the first light in the universe. The US ELT Program Office, which would, if approved, be based at NSF’s NOIRLab in Tucson, would be responsible for the scientific and programmatic coordination of this joint endeavor and for representation and advocacy of US community interests in the GMT and TMT. The US ELT Program would, thus, give a voice to US astronomers early in the development of these two very complex telescope systems. The award will also support development work on a number of important projects key to the success of the GMT. Deliverables for the GMT component of this proposal specifically target a reduction in cost and schedule risks associated with telescope system image quality. These include the development of laboratory testbeds for adaptive optics and the prototyping and testing of active and adaptive optics components and subsystems. These activities will ensure immediate and high scientific impact if GMT were commissioned later this decade. The US ELT Program presents an outstanding opportunity to engage diverse scientific and educational communities. Early career scientists and engineers from institutions distributed throughout the US would participate in this work. The experience would help them further develop and strengthen technical skills that would make them more valuable members of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) workforce. In the longer term, the US-ELT Program partnership has the potential to foster large scientific collaborations that would lead to increased involvement by a more diverse community of scientists from a broad range of institutions and demographic groups.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.

美国极大的望远镜计划（美国ELT计划）将协调三个组织的活动，即巨型麦哲伦望远镜（GMT），三十米望远镜（TMT）和NSF的国家光学 - 融资型天文学研究实验室（NSF的Noirlab）。这三个组织旨在为所有美国天文学家提供两个新的和非常大的望远镜，GMT和TMT。该奖项将为这项活动提供资金；它不会为任何建筑活动提供资金。它还将支持GMT的重要开发工作（没有向TMT提供资金）。该奖项将有助于GMT先进的最新技术，以确保望远镜一旦建造，就可以产生最清晰的图像。将开发出七个二次镜子之一的原型的重要组成部分，以及支持和维护七个8米主要镜子中每一个形状的系统；还将测试一种新的“自适应光学”系统。同时，NSF的Noirlab将制定计划，使天文学家可以轻松使用望远镜并迅速访问其观察结果。年轻的科学家和工程师将参与这项工作。 GMT和TMT在一起将允许来自潜水员背景的科学家观察到以前从未有过的整个天空。只要所有批准都已就位，TMT和GMT的目标是在2020年代中期建造。根据该奖项，NSF的NOIRLAB将制定一项计划，与GMT和TMT合作，以确保在望远镜最终构建望远镜的情况下，确保两种望远镜的观察时间。该计划将使用这两个下一代，基于地面的光红外观察平台来实现转型研究。如果构建，GMT和TMT将是2030年代存在的三个20至40米级望远镜中只有两个。这项称为“美国ELT计划”的合作将允许美国任何地方的科学家领导需要在GMT和TMT上进行大量观察时间的项目，并利用其完整的天空覆盖范围以及潜水员的仪器和观察能力。 TMT和GMT将在天文学和天体物理学上开放一个新的发现空间，从而使在其他恒星周围的行星大气中寻找生物标志物到对宇宙中的第一光研究的田野研究。美国ELT计划办公室，如果获得批准，该办公室将位于NSF的图森N. Noirlab，将负责这项联合努力的科学和程序协调，并在GMT和TMT中代表和倡导美国社区利益。因此，美国ELT计划将在这两个非常复杂的望远镜系统的开发中向美国天文学家发出声音。该奖项还将支持许多重要项目的开发工作，这是GMT成功的关键。该提案的GMT组成部分的可交付成果专门针对降低与望远镜系统图像质量相关的成本和计划风险。其中包括开发用于自适应光学器件的实验室测试床以及主动和自适应光学组件和子系统的原型和测试。如果在本十年后期委托GMT委托GMT，这些活动将确保立即和高度的科学影响。美国ELT计划为参与多样化的科学和教育社区提供了一个很棒的机会。来自美国各地的机构的早期职业科学家和工程师将参加这项工作。这种经验将有助于他们进一步发展和强大的技术技能，从而使他们更有价值的科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）劳动力成员。从长远来看，USELT计划的合作伙伴关系有可能促进大型的科学合作，这将导致来自广泛机构和人口统计组的科学家社区的参与增加。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用该基金会的知识分子优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务。