The design concept of a wide-field astronomical imaging telescope for use as a payload on an unmanned space platform, a Space Station attached payload, or a Delta-class Explorer is described. The instrument is based on a space Schmidt telescope concept studied by NASA and ESA (1979) for Spacelab missions. The astrophysical objectives include all-sky surveys in the UV and NIR ranges. Objects of interest include very hot and very cool stars and the interstellar medium. The UV range is inaccessible from the ground, and large-area surveys and sensitive imagery of diffuse sources are impractical with current or planned UV space telescopes. The NIR range is severely compromised in ground-based observations, particularly of diffuse sources, by airglow emissions, and no wide-field NIR space telescopes are currently approved for flight.

Date Published: 1 July 1990
PDF: 22 pages
Proc. SPIE 1236, Advanced Technology Optical Telescopes IV, (1 July 1990); doi: 10.1117/12.19201

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1236:
Advanced Technology Optical Telescopes IV
Lawrence D. Barr, Editor(s)