The Next Generation Space Telescope

Session 11 - Instrumentation & Techniques.
Oral session, Monday, June 09
North Main Hall A,

[11.01] The Next Generation Space Telescope

J. Mather (NASA/GSFC)

The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) is under study as the logical next step after HST, ISO, SIRTF, and SOFIA. It meets the challenge set out by the HST and Beyond Report (Dressler et al., AURA), which calls for a telescope optimized for the 1-5 micron band with an aperture of at least 4 m. After study by three engineering teams, it appears possible to build a deployable 8 m telescope, launchable on an Atlas IIAS rocket to the Lagrange point L2, for a construction cost of the order of $500 M (FY96 dollars). It is possible to extend the wavelength range to cover 0.5 to 20 microns, using a radiative cooler. The talk will report on scientific priorities, engineering possibilities, and plans for the study.

If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to ngst.gsfc.nasa.gov. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the the Web space for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back button on your browser.

Program listing for Monday