A non-conventional multiconfiguration large Antarctic telescope in a space-like environment

From a preliminary study on the project of a Large Antarctic Telescope for the Concordia Station at Dome C, two qualifying points seem important to be emphasized: a) the first point is to think of a large diameter Telescope, able to achieve high angular resolution measures, in the sub-arcsec range in the mid-ir, that the science, especially that concerned with star forming phenomena, is strongly requiring, using in this way a sensitivity limit never reached before which is amplified by the exceptionality of the site exploited. b) The second point, also related to the site, is to realize a non-conventional instrument with the highest degree of simplicity in the structure design, in the configurations, in the telescoped control and in the measuring modes, as to face the extreme conditions imposed by a space-like environment such as Dome C and also in order to cut costs. Furthermore the idea is to assure the use of such an instrument at wavelengths higher than the mid-ir region, to which the telescope is principally devoted, thus expanding the interest of the astronomical community for Antarctic Astronomy. In the design phase the optimized configurations assuring the possibility to observe in the near-mid- and far-ir and in the sub-mm range, will be selected, obtaining the particular optimized structure by making some modifications that could be implemented in Antarctica during the summer season. Every configuration will permit to have the optimized conditions to observe at different wavelengths and for different types of measures (imaging; polarimetry; spectrscopy; large or small fields of view, etc.) giving priority in some cases to the highest angular resolution or to the highest sensitivity, or to largest field of view. Some example will be given about technical solutions expected for the near and mid-ir in the light of the present and future possibilities in these domains.