THE LARGE SPACE TELESCOPE — A NEW ADVENTURE

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the large space telescope (LST), which is an assemblage of three basic elements—the optical telescope assembly, the scientific instruments, and the support systems module. The optical telescope assembly consists of the primary and secondary mirrors, their support structure, and the internal light shields and baffles. The scientific instruments element consists of the focal plane assembly and the primary viewing instruments. Four instruments can be accommodated at any given time. The instruments currently being considered for inclusion are an f24 wide-field camera, an f48/f96 planetary camera, a high-resolution spectrograph, a faint-object spectrograph, a high-speed point/area photometer, an infrared photometer, and an astrometer. The support systems module is the spacecraft bus that provides power, data management, communications, thermal control, meteoroid protection, stabilization, and pointing. The LST is expected to be a long-term observational facility that will explore unknown areas of the universe and initiate a new era in spacecraft that can be maintained by the space shuttle.