US ELT Program: GMT Design and Development

美国 ELT 项目：GMT 设计与开发

• 批准号: 2332336
• 负责人: Robert Shelton
• 金额: $ 650万
• 依托单位: GMTO CORPORATION
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2332336&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: US; ELT; Program; GMT; Design

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is a next-generation “extremely large telescope” that is to be built in Chile, with first observations of the southern skies anticipated in the mid-to-late 2030s. With this award, the National Science Foundation will support development of key technologies needed to ensure the telescope obtains the sharpest images possible. At the heart of the GMT are seven 8.4-meter diameter mirrors. These must be aligned with seven smaller mirrors, each 1-meter in diameter, mounted at the top of the telescope. This precise alignment, or “phasing”, requires very careful design and testing of a range of cutting-edge technologies. The award will support this crucial development work. The award will also support a workforce development program and research into an informal education program. GMT will plan a summer program of activities, based on the University of Texas at Austin’s existing Texas Astronomy Undergraduate Research Experience for Under-represented Students (TAURUS) Program, that will target underrepresented communities. Working with the San Francisco Exploratorium, GMT will also explore new ways of developing exhibits that are better suited to a diverse audience, ideas that could be used in a future travelling GMT exhibition. The project will focus on three specific technical risk-reduction activities. The primary mirror (M1) active optics system will be tested by installing one of the recently completed M1 segments in a Primary Mirror Test Cell, to demonstrate active optics control of the mirror surface wavefront error using the optical metrology tower at the University of Arizona’s Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab. The project will also build an Adaptive Secondary Mirror Phasing Testbed (ASM PTB) and will use this to demonstrate ASM segment position sensing and control. The PTB will include a metrology frame of reference for the ASM first article and will confirm position sensor performance. Finally, the team will also develop a Laser Tomography Adaptive Optics Wavefront Sensor (LTWS) prototype to address potential design risk features identified during the preliminary design phase, prototyping a single channel Shack-Hartmann Sensor, and testing the dynamic performance of the sensor motion stages and cable wrap design concepts.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.

巨型麦哲伦望远镜 (GMT) 是下一代“超大望远镜”，预计将在 2030 年代中后期对南部天空进行首次观测。将支持确保望远镜获得尽可能清晰的图像所需的关键技术的开发，GMT 的核心是七个直径 8.4 米的镜子，每个镜子必须与七个较小的镜子对齐。直径为 1 米，安装在望远镜顶部，需要非常仔细的设计和测试一系列尖端技术。该奖项将支持这项重要的开发工作。还支持劳动力发展计划和非正式教育计划的研究 GMT 将根据德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校现有的德克萨斯州天文学本科生研究经验计划 (TAURUS) 计划，该计划将针对非正规教育计划。代表性不足GMT 还将与旧金山探索馆合作，探索开发更适合不同观众的展览的新方法，这些想法可用于未来的 GMT 巡回展览，该项目将重点关注三个具体的技术风险降低。主镜 (M1) 主动光学系统将通过在主镜测试单元中安装最近完成的 M1 部分进行测试，以演示使用大学光学计量塔对镜面波前误差的主动光学控制。亚利桑那州的理查德F. Caris 镜子实验室。该项目还将建立一个自适应辅助镜定相测试台 (ASM PTB)，并将用它来演示 ASM 分段位置传感和控制。PTB 将包括 ASM 第一篇文章的计量参考框架。最后，该团队还将开发激光断层扫描自适应光学波前传感器 (LTWS) 原型，以解决初步设计阶段发现的潜在设计风险特征，对单通道 Shack-Hartmann 进行原型设计。传感器，并测试传感器运动平台和电缆缠绕设计概念的动态性能。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。