The Korean Space Telescope (KST): A Dedicated Space Observatory for the Dark Universe

Abstract

The Korean Space Telescope (KST) is a next-generation 1.4-meter wide-field space observatory, a dedicated probe of the dark sector. Its single instrument provides diffraction-limited visible imaging (~0.15 arcsec in the optical) together with simultaneous near-infrared (R ~ 100) slitless spectrophotometry, so that every detected source is observed in the NIR by the survey itself, with spectral information delivered at a resolution set by its brightness (full R ~ 100 typing at the bright end, synthetic medium-band or broadband photometry below it) and with no separate follow-up, a capability decisive for time-domain science. With it, KST addresses the three outstanding questions of dark physics in concert: the dynamics of dark energy, the nature of dark matter, and gravitational-wave dark sirens as independent cosmological rulers. KST combines measurements of expansion and structure growth to test dark-energy models. A two-tiered "Wedding Cake" strategy (2,000 deg^2 Wide plus 10 deg^2 cluster-targeted Deep Survey) combines weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, and a near-infrared-standardized Type Ia supernova Hubble diagram to constrain dark energy at its pivot redshift (sigma(w_p) ~ 0.03); maps dark matter from cluster cores to galactic substructure to test cold dark matter against warm and self-interacting alternatives; and builds a deep near-infrared host catalog for a distance-ladder-independent H_0 from dark sirens. The same data yield a Legacy Science portfolio (galaxy evolution, active galactic nuclei, exoplanets, and the Milky Way) at no additional observing cost. As Korea's first dedicated astrophysics space mission, KST occupies a niche complementary to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Euclid, and Roman.