Preparing aura for the Next Generation of Telescopes Responding to the aasc vision for Ground-based Astronomy

Preparing AURA for the Next Generation of Telescopes

• Responding to the AASC Vision for Ground-based Astronomy

• The scientific opportunities

• The recommendations of the AASC

• and European aspirations

• Progress to date (in the US)

• The CELT External Review

• Two studies, one result

• Science Case
• Costs

• First steps towards a GSMT

Preparing AURA for the Next Generation of Telescopes

• Involving the Astronomy Community in GSMT

• Key AURA Accomplishments

• GSMT Science Working Group

• New Initiatives Office and the Point Design

• Identifying technical challenges common to all ELT concepts

• Site Evaluation

• Integrated Modeling

• Instrumentation Studies

• AURA and the community will have to work together to develop new approaches for building $20M - $50M ELT Instruments

Preparing AURA for the Next Generation of Telescopes

• Taking the Next Step

• The Competition is now Global

• Non-US Capital investment is now 3x that of the US

• The need for partnership

• NIO Proposal to the NSF

• Laying the foundation for a new Public – Private Partnership

• Continuing to Involve the Community

• Embracing a New Paradigm

The Scientific Opportunities 21st Century astronomy is uniquely positioned to study “the evolution of the universe in order to relate causally the physical conditions during the Big Bang to the development of RNA and DNA” (R. Giacconi, 1997)

Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium

AASC Vision for Ground-based Astronomy

Astronomy and Astrophysics in Europe “we will not be left behind”

AASC Vision for a Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope

Progress to date (in the US)

• 30m Point Design

• Partnership between NOAO and Gemini Observatory
• Strengths
• Science
• The Gemini Observatory
• Wind and Structures
• Site Testing
• Adaptive Optics
• Instrumentation
• Two years ~ $2M
• Pre-Phase A and cost

CELT External Review - September 2002

• Membership:

• Ed Moses – Project Director NIF
• Gary Sanders – Dep. Dir. LIGO
• Steve Shectman – PS Magellan
• Jerry Smith, Former Keck PM
• Ed Turner - Princeton
• Matt Mountain - Gemini

Two Studies, One Result

• Results from 2 x 2 years of studies:

• It is feasible to build a 30m Telescope that will fulfill the science objectives of the AASC, on a time scale comparable to JWST

• The optics for a ~700m2 mirror can be manufactured, polished and assembled
• Wind buffeting effects can be managed
• The technologies exist or can be developed to enable diffraction limited imaging and spectroscopy in at least the IR
• The instrumentation, though challenging, is within the capabilities of major institutions and industry

• The cost for telescope construction, adaptive optics, initial instrumentation and including 30% contingency is between $600M - $700M

The Science Case for a GSMT

Comparative performance of a 30m GSMT with a 25m2 JWST

CELT & GSMT relative cost estimates

First Steps Toward a GSMT

• “The committee recommends that technology development for GSMT begin immediately and that construction start within the decade.”

• Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee

Rapid Progress is Essential

Required GSMT Funding Profile

Conceptual Design Challenges for Next Generation Telescopes

Critical Elements of a Community-Based Design Program

ELT’s require broad national and international investment in key AO technologies

Immediate Need: Funding for Design & Development Phase

• $70M needed for DDP

• Design & Simulation Tools
• Site Evaluation
• Technology Development
• Preparing a Preliminary Design

• NIO will seek $35M matching NSF funding

• Focus on (1) – (3) broadly applicable to all ELT efforts
• Proposal submission planned for June 2003
• Responsive to AASC recommendation that “technology development for GSMT begin immediately”
• Provides community voice from inception of GSMT

Key AURA Accomplishments to Date

• Science Working Group for NSF convened

• Initial science cases for GSMT developed

• Initial performance requirements established

• Core team of scientists and engineers in place

• Point design developed

• Key technical studies common to all ELT’s

• Sites
• Wind-buffeting
• Integrated modeling
• Instrument concepts

• Cost, schedule and management model

GSMT Science Working Group

• The NSF GSMT SWG is a community-based group convened by NOAO to formulate a powerful science case for federal investment in GSMT

• Identify key science drivers
• Develop clear, compelling arguments for GSMT in era of JWST/ALMA
• Discuss realization of science as a function of design parameters:
• Aperture
• FOV
• Image quality
• Etc.
• Generate unified, coherent community support

GSMT SWG Members

• Chair: Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, UH IfA

• SWG Members:

• Jill Bechtold -- UA
• Mike Bolte -- UCSC
• Ray Carlberg -- U of T
• Matthew Colless -- ANU
• Irena Cruz-Gonzales -- UNAM
• Alan Dressler -- OCIW
• Betsy Gillespie -- UA

Driving Science Themes

• The Birth of Galaxies: The Archaeological Record

• Characterize Exo-Planets

• The Birth of Planetary Systems

• The Birth of Galaxies: Witnessing the Process Directly

• The Birth of Large-Scale Structure

Science themes drive performance

• For the majority of these themes, telescope aperture and image quality are key science drivers:

• S/N D2 – D3

• Sensitivity (1/time)D4 – D6

Top Performance Requirements

• Near-diffraction limited performance over ~ 2 arc-minute fields

• High-dynamic-range imaging

• High sensitivity mid-IR spectroscopy

• Enhanced-seeing over ~ 5 arc-minute field

• Wide-field, seeing-limited multi-object spectroscopy

GSMT SWG: Next Steps

• Develop and vet key science cases

• GSMT SWG + interaction with/contributions from the community

• Provide input to NSF prior to June, 2003

• Justify substantial NSF investment in GSMT engineering studies

AURA New Initiatives Office

Results of Point Design Studies

• Design studies established feasibility

• Design satisfies science requirements

• Telescope design accommodates needed instruments

• Technical challenges, but no show stoppers

• AO components
• Instrument components
• Wind buffeting
• Hierarchical control systems

• Cost estimate consistent with decadal survey

GSMT Site Evaluation

• NIO collaborating with Carnegie, CELT, Cornell, ESO, UNAM; to test:

• Las Campanas
• Chajnantor
• One or two additional Chilean Sites
• Mauna Kea ELT site
• San Pedro de Martir

Site characterization has started

Comparison of Chilean Sites

Computational Fluid Dynamics

• Characterize wind flow to allow pre-selection of sites

• Wind intensity
• Turbulence characteristics
• Down-wind wakes

• NIO has recruited CFD modeling expert -- Konstantinos Vogiatzis

• Characterization of Chilean sites well underway

• Analysis of other sites planned for 2nd Qtr 2003

Las Campanas Peak 2 Turbulent Kinetic Energy

Integrated Modeling

• Goal: Simulate telescope and instrument performance in the presence of disturbances, corrected by active and adaptive systems

• Value:

• Accurately predict scientific performance
• Guide critical engineering-science trades -- e.g., role of passive vs. active vs. adaptive systems
• Essential tool for defining boundaries between groups, and coordinating and controlling costs
• Enables scope of data taking and analysis software to be estimated

• Combines several disciplines:

• Dynamic Structural engineering -- finite-element analysis
• Optical engineering -- ray tracing, Gaussian beam analysis
• Adaptive optics -- AO simulation codes
• Control system design -- models created in Matlab
• Instrumentation – concepts and requirements determination

Characterizing Effects of Wind Wind Measurements at Gemini South

Snapshot of Wind Pressure & Resulting Mirror Deformation

Dynamic Structural Modeling

Adaptive Optics

AO Simulation: Center of M32

AO Simulation Results

Integrated Model of science performance is the result

GSMT Instrument Studies

NIO Investments have already benefited the Community

• NIO efforts have focused on areas that benefit all ELT programs:

• Solicited community input in defining key capabilities via science cases

• Supported multiple site evaluation efforts

• Provided extensive wind-buffeting database

• Developed sophisticated adaptive optics simulation tools

• Assembled engineering team with broadly applicable skills:

• CFD modeling
• Adaptive optics simulation
• Integrated modeling of end-to-end system performance

• We now have to take the next step…

The Need for Partnership

• Advancing a GSMT depends on partners who:

• Can provide funds to complement anticipated NSF investment
• Are committed to a public/private partnership to build a 30-m telescope as envisioned by AASC:
• Contemporary with JWST
• Involving community during all project phases

Partnership Opportunity

• UC and Caltech are prepared to partner with AURA to design a 30m CELT/GSMT

• Canadian Universities (ACURA) are interested in partnering in a 30m CELT/GSMT

• Caltech and UC funding via proposal to Moore Foundation
• Proposed Canadian funding via ACURA proposal to CFI
• Proposed NIO contributions:
• NIO engineering team
• Funds from a successful proposal to NSF ($35M)

• Partners ready to initiate joint D&D Phase

• Building on point design studies

Preparing for the New “Public- Private” Paradigm

• NIO will request $35M in NSF funds to provide a public match to:

• UC and Caltech funding request to Moore Foundation
• ACURA funding request to CFI

• NIO portion will assure public participation during the design phase of the project recommended by the AASC

• Together these funds will:

• Develop key technologies and components
• Address fundamental ELT design issues
• Evaluate candidate sites
• Compare & evaluate proposed design concepts
• Produce a design for a 30m GSMT

Activities That Benefit All ELT Programs

• Engage our communities in AASC vision for GSMT

• Champion community science interests

• Analyze and model telescope wind buffeting effects

• Develop AO simulation codes & predict system performance

• Develop integrated modeling tools & end-to-end simulations

• Evaluate key science-engineering trade studies

• Evaluate premier site candidates

• Fund development of advanced adaptive optics components

• Fund development of instrument design concepts

• Fund key instrument technology developments

• Fund development of high-performance coatings

• Establish accepted software architecture & standards

• Explore operations options and cost models

Plan to continue involving the community

• Maintain the GSMT SWG beyond its NSF report

• Ongoing science scrutiny of performance trades

• community science workshops
• science drivers for instrumentation
• data management and NVO interface

• Form (continue) an Institutional Support Consortium

• Opportunity to draw on institutional skills

• Science simulations; technical innovations, instrument development

• Consolidating resource pool

• Forum for adaptive optics exchange

Embracing a New Paradigm

• The proposed partnership matches the AASC vision:

• “In addition to…OWL, there are three other programs in the early planning stages: MAXAT, a 30-50m telescope (NIO at NOAO), CELT 30-m class (Caltech & University of California), and ELT, a 25-m scale-up of the HET (Penn State & Texas). The GSMT described here corresponds closely with CELT or MAXAT. Although it is too early to judge the future direction of these projects, we believe that GSMT could evolve directly from either of these initiatives, one from the private, the other from the public sector, or from a joint project created by the merging of these two.”

Embracing a New Paradigm

• The proposed partnership matches the AASC vision

• AURA stands ready to advance the AASC vision

• Partner with Caltech, UC and Canada
• Support ELT technology development

• AURA is ready to ensure:

• our community has access to a state-of-the-art GSMT
• US leadership in this Millennium