Development of the US Extremely Large Telescope Program

美国超大望远镜计划（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）、30米望远镜（TMT）和国家科学基金会的国家光学红外天文研究实验室（NSF的NOIRLab）。这三个组织的共同目标是为所有美国天文学家提供使用GMT和TMT这两个新的超大望远镜的机会。该奖项将为该活动的规划提供资金；它不会资助任何建设活动。它还将支持GMT的重要开发工作（没有向TMT提供资金）。该奖项将帮助GMT推进最先进的技术，确保望远镜一旦建成，就能产生尽可能清晰的图像。将开发七个副镜之一的原型的重要部件，以及支持和保持七个8米主镜形状的系统；一种新的“自适应光学”系统也将进行测试。与此同时，NSF的NOIRLab将制定计划，使天文学家能够轻松地使用两台望远镜并快速访问他们的观测结果。青年科学家和工程师将参与这项工作。GMT和TMT将使来自不同背景的科学家能够以前所未有的方式观察整个天空。如果所有批准都到位，TMT和GMT的目标是在2020年代中后期建造。根据该合同，NSF的NOIRLab将制定一项计划，与GMT和TMT合作，如果望远镜最终建成，将为更广泛的美国社区确保两台望远镜的观测时间。该计划将利用这两个下一代地面光学红外观测平台进行变革性研究。如果建成，GMT和TMT将是本世纪30年代仅有的三个20到40米级别的超大型望远镜中的两个。这项被称为“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格林尼治标准时间和TMT上分配大量观测时间的项目，利用他们的全天空覆盖范围和多样化的仪器和观测能力。TMT和GMT将为天文学和天体物理学开辟一个新的发现空间，使从寻找其他恒星周围行星大气中的生物标志物到研究宇宙中的第一束光等领域的前沿研究成为可能。如果获得批准，美国ELT项目办公室将设在图森的NSF NOIRLab，负责这一联合努力的科学和项目协调，并代表和倡导美国社区在GMT和TMT中的利益。因此，美国ELT项目将在这两个非常复杂的望远镜系统的早期发展中给予美国天文学家发言权。该奖项还将支持一些重要项目的开发工作，这些项目对GMT的成功至关重要。该提案的GMT组件的交付成果特别针对降低与望远镜系统图像质量相关的成本和进度风险。其中包括自适应光学实验室试验台的开发，以及主动和自适应光学元件和子系统的原型设计和测试。这些活动将确保如果GMT在本十年晚些时候投入使用，将产生直接和高度的科学影响。美国英语教学计划提供了一个绝佳的机会，让不同的科学和教育团体参与其中。来自美国各地机构的早期职业科学家和工程师将参与这项工作。这些经历将帮助他们进一步发展和加强技术技能，使他们成为科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）劳动力中更有价值的成员。从长远来看，美国- elt项目的伙伴关系具有促进大型科学合作的潜力，这将导致来自广泛机构和人口群体的更多样化的科学家社区的更多参与。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.