LSST structural design

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is an 8-meter class telescope with a proposed field of view between 3.0 and 3.5 degrees. The scientific goals of the survey establish a cadence that sets the telescope performance. The proposed cadence of the LSST telescope will typically require movements and settling of the telescope of approximately 3 degrees in 5 seconds. This dictates a high bandwidth to the telescope servo and thus a high locked rotor resonant frequency. In this study, the structure must accommodate three optical surfaces, the 8.4-meter primary, the 3-meter class secondary, and a 5-meter class tertiary in a long-tube configuration. The instrument must be accommodated in a "Trapped Focus" in the middle of the telescope. This imposes very stringent requirements on the structure and drives. This structure will require performance beyond the existing class of 8-meter telescopes. This can be achieved with the C-ring and azimuth platform concept demonstrated with the Large Binocular Telescope. The structure requires a low rotational inertia and a very high locked rotor resonant frequency at all angles of the sky. This is a challenging problem that can be overcome with this innovative solution.

[1]  James Roger P. Angel,et al.  Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Mechanical Structure and Design , 2002, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.