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Planning for a new giant space telescope armed with an unfolding mirror with a diameter of 8-16 metres should begin now to provide the true successor to Hubble by the 2030s, according to the President of the Royal Astronomical Society, Professor Martin Barstow of the University of Leicester.
Barstow presented the case for the Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) at this week's National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) at the University of Portsmouth. ATLAST would operate at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths, just like the Hubble Space Telescope currently does. However, Hubble has been in space for 24 years and is not expected to outlast the decade, while the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) set to launch in 2018 is an infrared telescope designed for probing dusty regions of the Universe and seeking the earliest galaxies, and not for taking the pretty pictures that Hubble excels at.
"ATLAST is the next logical step beyond the JWST," Barstow tells Astronomy Now. "It will be a multi-purpose telescope, so it will be able to study stars and galaxies, but one of the crucial things that it will be able to do is probe the habitable zones around stars like our own Sun and directly detect any Earth-like exoplanets that may be out there."
Existing only as a concept design study produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute in the United States -- the agency that manages the science operations of the Hubble Space Telescope -- ATLAST still has a long way to go before being approved and funded by any space agency. Given the exorbitant costs that JWST has racked up, those in charge of the purse strings may be reluctant to immediately fund another large space telescope. As such, the ATLAST project first has to recruit friends in the astronomical community, to which end Barstow presented ATLAST's case to an audience of exoplanet researchers at NAM. "The big question is, are we alone?" he says. "If we can detect Earth-like exoplanets and identify things in their atmospheres such as oxygen, methane and ozone, it would be a pretty clear signature that there is some kind of biological activity going on."
Hubble's mirror is 2.4 metres across, while the largest space telescope launched thus far has been the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Telescope, which was armed with a 3.5-metre wide mirror. JWST will beat that, with a 6.5-metre mirror that will be the first test of the technology that allows the segmented mirror to fold up during launch and then unfurl once in space. ATLAST will require the same technology -- its mirror would be so big that no currently-working launch vehicle is big enough to house it, although several are planned for the coming decades, including NASA's Space Launch System that will take the manned Orion capsule into space.
foot balls don't have pitches. that's like a football bat.
originally posted by: Biigs
That looks pretty good.
Im currently excited [although its going to be ten years] about the euro ELT they are about to build in Chile, they say the mirror will be the size of a football pitch (this thing is just HUGE not just "extra large").
Will have to add this new space scope to my list of things to keep an eye on (get it?)
originally posted by: Arbitrageur
a reply to: JadeStar
The unfolding mirror sounds like an engineering challenge.
They had enough problems with the mirror on Hubble and it didn't even unfold.
But if they can make it work it should be a big step up from the Hubble.
originally posted by: Aleister
a reply to: JadeStar
Although this new telescope is fantastic, I thought the James Webb was the designated "successor" to our old friend Hubble. Is that still on track for 2017.
and why would it be designed so it can't be repaired, which seems like the Webb planners aren't looking ahead to new spacecraft designs which may or may not come into development at any moment. Thanks.
originally posted by: stormbringer1701
foot balls don't have pitches. that's like a football bat.
originally posted by: Biigs
That looks pretty good.
Im currently excited [although its going to be ten years] about the euro ELT they are about to build in Chile, they say the mirror will be the size of a football pitch (this thing is just HUGE not just "extra large").
Will have to add this new space scope to my list of things to keep an eye on (get it?)
I'm not so sure about that, sometimes things that are folded can have problems unfolding, like the Antenna on Sky Terra 1:
originally posted by: JadeStar
Ironically if the Hubble used folding mirror technology the fix for it would have been far simpler
If you don't have to unfold a mirror, then you don't have to worry about running into glitches with the unfolding process.
Boeing began deploying the antenna Nov. 30 but quickly encountered a glitch that industry officials said is of unclear origin. Boeing has declined comment on the problem beyond saying the antenna’s deployment has been delayed. Once the problem was discovered, Boeing said, the company assembled a team to assess what maneuvers could be performed to correct the problem.
Several industry officials said the full deployment — an hours-long process of having the folded antenna deployed at a distance from the satellite’s body by a boom, followed by an unfurling — appeared to have hit a snag.
originally posted by: MarsIsRed
originally posted by: JadeStar
One of the few people not watching the World Cup I see...
Is that the 'sport' where grown men bite each other, fall over blades of grass and blame each other, and pretend to be sporting professionals? lol
originally posted by: Miccey
Put the money for the toys on the big thing
instead. Fund the "Entrprise" and well have
a "go´see"....
It receives about the same average stellar energy as Earth does and may have similar temperatures to our planet. These characteristics put it among the top three most Earth-like planets.
originally posted by: Biigs
That looks pretty good.
Im currently excited [although its going to be ten years] about the euro ELT they are about to build in Chile, they say the mirror will be the size of a football pitch (this thing is just HUGE not just "extra large").
Will have to add this new space scope to my list of things to keep an eye on (get it?)
originally posted by: MarsIsRed
The design philosophy of space telescopes is fundamentally flawed today. Instead of building a single contagious mirror, we should be aiming a large rings - like a thin Polo mint:
Polo
The most relevant thing is the diameter of the mirror, the volume only helps collect more light. By having a larger 'ring' you get a larger collecting area automatically, and better resolution by default. By building a multitude of outer ring hexagons, you gain more of everything!
Tomorrows telescopes should be designed with this larger outer ring concept, possibly with the technology to fill in the ring if finances allow.