NASA in-Space Assembled Telescope (iSAT) Study
NASA in-Space Assembled Telescope (iSAT) Study | Steering Committee Telecons | Study Workshops and F2F Meetings | Study Member Telecons
Large aperture telescopes benefit all astrophysics as well as planetary and Earth science. They provide unprecedented spatial resolution, spectral coverage, and signal to noise, advancing all of these science areas. Envisioning the need for future large segmented telescopes to one day exceed the fairing size of existing or even planned launch vehicles, NASA will need to begin considering the in-space assembly (iSA) of these future assets. In addition, robotically assembling space telescopes in space rather than deploying them from single launch vehicles offers the possibility, in some circumstances, of reduced cost and risk for even smaller telescopes. This possibility, however, has not been proven. Therefore, following discussions within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Astrophysics Division (APD), the SMD Chief Technologist and APD Division Director have commissioned a study to assess the cost and risk benefits, if any, of the iSA of space telescopes.
In particular, the study must answer the question: “When is it advantageous to assemble space telescopes in space rather than to build them on the Earth and deploy them autonomously from individual launch vehicles?” The Study Charter (on the right) describes the plan for the study deliverables, process, and membership. The goal for completion of the study is May 2019 culminating in a submitted whitepaper to the National Academies’ 2020 Astronomy & Astrophysics Decadal Survey.
Universe Today video describing in-Space Assembly:
iSAT ConOps Graphical Storyboard: 20m Segmented UV/V/NIR telescope
iSAT: Benefits and Challenges Table
Video: Building in Space! On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (OSAM)
Video: Animation of a 20-meter in-Space Assembled Telescope
Viewgraphs: Concept for an iSAT Technology Demonstrator
Enabling Space Telescope Technologies: OPTIIX Technology Feed-Forward, presented to AAS by David Redding et al., Jan. 10, 2013
The Future of Space Astronomy Will Be Built
iSAT Astro2020 Whitepaper
When is it Worth Assembling Observatories in Space? Astro 2020 APC Whitepaper, Mukherjee et al. 2019
iSAT Study Final Report
iSAT Study Additional Information
Study Leads:
- Nick Siegler, NASA JPL
- Harley Thronson, NASA GSFC (retired)
- Rudra Mukherjee, NASA JPL
Study Documents:
- iSAT Charter
- iSAT Assumptions and Initial Conditions (in process)
- iSAT ConOps Graphical Storyboard: 20m Segmented UV/V/NIR telescope
- When is it Worth Assembling Observatories in Space? Astro 2020 APC Whitepaper
Study Workshops:
- Telescope Design and Architecture Face-to-Face Meeting June 5-7, 2018 Caltech (invite-only)
- Telescope Assembly and Testing Face-to-Face Meeting October 2-4, 2018 NASA/Langley Research Center (invite-only)
- Telescope Assembly Qualitative Analysis Face-to-Face Meeting February 26-27, 2019 Jet Propulsion Laboratory (invite-only)
References:
