This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This effort will provide for Design and Development (D&D) of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), a four-meter, off-axis, Gregorian telescope with fully integrated adaptive optics, capable of resolving fundamental physical processes and magnetic fields throughout the solar atmosphere. The design of the ATST and the proposed construction program result from the strongly community-based supported ATST design and development effort.
The effort will augment the project team with key staff to complete the design efforts and prepare for construction start, and support recommended risk reductions and vendor contracting preparation needed to move into construction. The completion with industry of the site architectural and engineering (A&E) work and the foundation design is the highest priority item within this additional risk reduction and vendor contracting package. The A&E work and foundation design drives the start of work on site and therefore drives the construction critical path. Other recommended work includes adaptive optics deformable mirror prototyping and wavefront sensor camera development and further instrument and software and controls development. These risk reduction efforts with industry flow directly from recommendations made by design and cost review committees.
