Technology for the next generation space telescope

摘要

The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) is a major elemet of NASA's Origins Program. It is planned to be a deployable infrared telescope with an 8m diameter aperture and a sensitivity approxapprox1000 times greater than any currently existing infrared telescope. the scientific goals of NGST include imaging and spectroscopic characterization of the earliest galaxies and proto-galaxies, which formed following the "big bang". Several eyars ago, NASA embarked on an aggessive technology development effort covering a number of technical areas including optics, detectors, deployable structurs, wavefront control, passive cooling, operations, etc. This paper presents an overview of the status of the program NASA is pursuing to provide the necessary technologies, which will enable an exciting, affordable NGST mission.