PILOT — Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope

PILOT—Pathfinder for an International Large Optical

Telescope

John StoreyWith Jon Lawrence, Michael Ashley and Michael Burton

Image: John Storey

Outline

• Why PILOT?• Specification• Tower?• Logistics• Next steps

Image: Patrik Kaufmann

Image: EOST

PILOT: Pathfinder for an

International Large Optical Telescope.

Why a ~2.4 metre telescope?• It is the next step along a path towards

– An interferometer– A large filled-aperture HAR telescope– A large filled-aperture wide-field telescope– A sub-mm telescope

• It is available “off the shelf” and so it is– Inexpensive (eg, passive mirror support)– Fast (30 months)

• The instrumentation is small and inexpensive• It can remain at Dome C as special-purpose telescope after

the “pathfinder” phase.

PILOT, 2.4 metres, 2012

LAPCAT, 8 metres, 2016GMTA, 24 metres, 2026

Towards an Antarctic ELT

LAPCAT The Large Antarctic Plateau Clear Aperture Telescope

Animation: Inside Systems Gmbh

PILOT could be similar to the Lick

Rocky Planet Finder telescope

Image: EOST

Strawman design:• 2.4 metre primary• Dual Nasmyth f/10• Brushless direct drive• Fast tip-tilt secondary

PILOT Functional Specification• PILOT will have mirror diameter 1.8m – 2.4m, with

preference for the largest size possible.• Classic two-mirror design; Ritchey-Cretien or Gregorian, and

using Nasmyth focus.• Able to point to any elevations greater than 20 at all

azimuths.• Two modes of operation; wide-field, natural-seeing limited

operating at about f/10, over a field of view 75mm x 75mm; and

• Diffraction-limited imaging at about f/20 over at least 37mm x 37mm.

• Designs with fixed, or at least the same, camera in the two modes are strongly preferred.

• Possible future use of PILOT as part of an interferometer

PASA, 22, (2005),199 – 235.

See also:

www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jacara/antbib.php

Can PILOT act as a pathfinder for future telescopes, and do good science?

Image: John Storey

Image: NASA

There are ~100,000 objects in earth orbit with sizes between 1 cm and 10cm.

Most are in unknown orbits.

A collision with any one of these objects could destroy a $1b satellite.

Dome C is the ideal location for detection of polar-orbitting debris.

Could PILOT have a “dual role”?

Satellite debris

Telescope Elevation Advantages

Rodgers, Swain and Hippler 2006

For wide-field imaging; no

For high-res. imaging; maybe

PILOT weighs 27 tonnes

30 m “Hammerschlag” tower weighs 100 tonnes

Deflection under maximum wind gusts at Dome C is ~100 milli arcsec (Lanford et al 2006)

Image: Robert Hammerschlag et al, 2006

Is a tower required?

Dutch Open Telescope, La Palma

The new Australian Antarctic Division air-link will be fully operational in 2007.

Dome C

Images: Australian Antarctic Division

Logistic support from Hobart

Hobart ●

Sydney ●

Dome C ●

Image: Australian Antarctic Division

DdU ● ● Casey

l’Astrolabe

Getting PILOT from Dumont d’Urville to Dome C.

Image: John Storey

Complete 1.8-metre telescope (minus mirror)

Image: Electro-Optic Systems

2.4 m telescope

Image: John Storey

Another 2.4 m telescope

And one more...

Governance of PILOT

• Australia and Europe share the total cost 50:50

• Australia and Europe share the observing time 50:50

• All data become publicly available after 18 months

• Instruments are preferably constructed as joint ventures (could also involve US?)

• Exchange of students, postdocs is strongly encouraged!

PILOT Organisational chart, Stage 1

FP6

Australian PILOTProject Office

ARENA

NA1NA2 NA4NA3 NA5

NCRIS

AAL

PILOT ScienceOffice

UNSW

Univ. Nice

ARENA MoU

AAL = Astronomy Australia Limited

AAAAC

Current status

• Contract with Australian DEST under negotiation

• Will Saunders appointed as Project Scientist

• Peter Gillingham appointed as Project Guru

• Applicant for Project Engineer being selected

• First meeting of AAAAC held on 22 February 07

• Risk Workshop held at SKM on 23 February 07

• Draft Functional Specification written

The next steps

• Appoint Project Manager

• Define work packages

• Further MoUs and contracts with European teams

• Joint DDP program (€600k+ ; 1 year)

• Engineering design studies

• Prototyping and testing of components

• Design Reference Mission (Science)

• Critical Design Review

• Formal agreement on construction

• Construction, deployment and operation!

...and following a successful Critical Design Review...

PILOT Organisation chart, Stage 2

European fundingsources

Aus. DEST

AAL

PILOT Board

PILOT Office

Aus. Ant. Astro.

Australian PILOTScience Office

European PILOTScience Office

AAAAC

Image: David A. Hardy

UNSW team: Michael Ashley, Colin Bonner, Tui Britton, Michael Burton, Jessie Christiansen, Jon Everett, Shane Hengst, Balt Indermuehle, Suzanne Kenyon, Jon Lawrence, Daniel Luong-Van, John Storey.

Image: Jon Lawrence

M.C.B. Ashley, M.G. Burton, J.S. Lawrence & J.W.V. Storey, Robotic telescopes on the Antarctic plateau, Astronomische Nachrichten, 325, (2004), 619 – 625.

See also:A.M. Fowler, N. Sharp, W. Ball, A.E.T. Schinckel, M.C.B. Ashley, M. Boccas, J.W.V. Storey, D. Depoy, P. Martini, D.A. Harper and R.D. Marks, ABU/SPIREX: The South Pole Thermal IR Experiment, Proc SPIE, (1998), 3354, 1170 – 1178.