Low Mass Density Wide Field Far-IR/Submillimeter Telescope Systems

Abstract

Fundamentally new technology is described for constructing low areal mass density (1kg/m^2), high precision (< 10micron RMS) reflectors scalable to large apertures (10 to 20 meters) for use as the primary element of a telescope system. A large reduction in mass is achieved by minimizing the mass of the reflective surface using a high reflectivity metallic membrane. A wide field diffraction limited telescope system can be constructed using the primary reflector in conjunction with secondary and tertiary optics.