Australia’s Path to a Giant Telescope

Matthew CollessMNRF Symposium

7 June 2003

International ELT projects

Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)• GMT (20m) = US private consortium• Carnegie, Harvard, SAO, Arizona, MIT, Michigan, Texas

Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT)• TMT (30m) = CELT (US priv.) + GSMT (US pub.) + VLOT (Can.)• Caltech, U.California, NOAO, AURA, ACURA

European Large Telescope (OWL)• OWL (100m) = OverWhelmingly Large telescope• ESO, Opticon (most European countries)

Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)

Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)

The European Large Telescope (OWL)

ELT science scope = most of astronomy Dark matter and dark energy

First light and reionization

Galaxy assembly at high-redshift

Growth of black holes

Chemical evolution of stars & galaxies

Origin of stellar masses

Uniqueness of our solar system

Formation of habitable worlds

SERENDIPITY!

Mapping science goals to telescope design

Stellar Populations in Galaxies

Characterizing Exoplanets

The Birth of Planetary Systems

The Birth of Galaxies:

The Birth of Large

Scale Structure

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Essential capabilities for ELT science

ELT technical capabilities science gains

Technology developments needed

Australia’s ELT Roadmap

The Australian ELT Working Group has produced an ELT Roadmap with three main strands…1 Smart buyers…

Which ELT? Science, technology, share, access, etc.

2 Technology leaders…Developing Australian technology for ELTs

3 Antarctic advantage…The best telescope on earth should be at the best site on earth

The Roadmap is available on the web at…http://www.aao.gov.au/instrum/ELT/

GMT - a focus for Australian ELT effort

Australia’s goal is 10-20% of an ELT Open to participating in any of the ELT projects Keeping in close contact with all three However, to provide a real focus for Australian ELT effort,

the ELT WG is opening collaboration with the GMT project This is not yet partnership (Australia has ‘observer’ status)

Ten reasons Australia should join GMT

1. World-leading science (mostly common to other ELTs)2. Balance between technical risk and science opportunity3. Low cost for large share (‘second to none’)4. Early entry leads to more influence and greater benefits5. Technology development leading to knowledge transfer6. Education & training - links to leading US institutions7. Flexible funding model - some choice in how, when, what8. Southern location offers synergy with AU facilities & SKA9. Interest in 2nd-generation Antarctic ELT10. Genuine partnership based on mutual interests & regard

GMT cost estimates

The estimated costs for the 20m GMT are…

• Design ~ US$50M

• Construction ~ US$450M

• Operation ~ US$20M/year

For comparison…

• TMT is estimated to be ~50% higher (US$750M)

• OWL is estimated to cost €1200M to construct

Nominal Australian spending profile for 20% share of GMT

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2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Year

A$M

Design

Construction

Operations

GMT schedule first light ~2018

Initial Australian collaborations with GMT

Currently: joint involvement by ANU/AAO/UNSW staff in concept design of visible multi-object spectrograph for GMT

Proposed for 2006 (funding sought via LIEF):• Further design study of VISMOS (OCIW/AAO/ANU)• Study of mirror phasing techniques (Arizona/ANU)• Wind flow studies of telescope & enclosure (commercial

engineering consultants - Sinclair Knight Merz)

Australian contribution valued at ~AU$600k• Seek to credit this contribution to future GMT partner

share, with approval of GMT Council

The MNRF contribution

MNRF is funding the Australian ELT effort by providing funding for……the Australian ELT Project Scientist:

Prof. Warrick Couch (UNSW, 0.3 FTE)…a Deputy Project Scientist:

Dr Charles Jenkins (RSAA, 0.2 FTE)…travel support for these roles

The funding amounts to $140k p.a. for period 2005-2007