J. Astrophys. Astr.

(2013) 34, 81–86 

c Indian Academy of Sciences

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT): An International Observatory

Gary H. Sanders1,2
1 Divisionof Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
2 TMT Observatory Corporation, 1111 S. Arroyo Pkwy., Ste. 200, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

e-mail: sanders@tmt.org

Received 18 March 2013; accepted 6 May 2013

Abstract. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will be the first truly
global ground-based optical/infrared observatory. It will initiate the era of
extremely large (30-meter class) telescopes with diffraction limited per-
formance from its vantage point in the northern hemisphere on Mauna
Kea, Hawaii, USA. The astronomy communities of India, Canada, China,
Japan and the USA are shaping its science goals, suite of instrumen-
tation and the system design of the TMT observatory. With large and
open Nasmyth-focus platforms for generations of science instruments,
TMT will have the versatility and flexibility for its envisioned 50 years of
forefront astronomy. The TMT design employs the filled-aperture finely-
segmented primary mirror technology pioneered with the W.M. Keck
10-meter telescopes. With TMT’s 492 segments optically phased, and
by employing laser guide star assisted multi-conjugate adaptive optics,
TMT will achieve the full diffraction limited performance of its 30-meter
aperture, enabling unprecedented wide field imaging and multi-object
spectroscopy. The TMT project is a global effort of its partners with all
partners contributing to the design, technology development, construction
and scientific use of the observatory. TMT will extend astronomy with
extremely large telescopes to all of its global communities.

Key words. Optical astronomy—infrared astronomy—telescope—

adaptive optics—segmented mirrors.

1. Introduction
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will be the first truly global ground-based
optical/infrared observatory. With the partnership of the astronomy communities,
and their sponsors, of India, Canada, China, Japan and the USA, TMT represents
a scale of global collaboration well beyond the previous 8- and 10-meter telescope
projects in Chile and Hawaii. TMT will bring its scientific reach to the astronomy
communities of a large fraction of the Earth’s population, serving as a global intel-
lectual asset. Towards that end, the astronomy communities of India, Canada, China,

81
82 Gary H. Sanders

Japan and the USA are each shaping TMT’s science goals, suite of instrumentation
and the system design of the TMT observatory. In particular, the astronomy com-
munity of India carried out a detailed study of options (India’s Participation in the
Thirty Meter Telescope Project 2010) in choosing TMT as a principle element of its
future program.

2. The TMT site

TMT will initiate the era of extremely large (30-meter class) telescopes with diffrac-
tion limited performance from its vantage point in the northern hemisphere on Mauna
Kea, Hawaii, USA. Centered in the Pacific Ocean, amidst its astronomy stakehold-
ers, Mauna Kea provides world leading astronomical seeing conditions (Schoeck
et al. 2009). TMT will be installed on a plateau adjacent to the ridge upon which
numerous other optical observatories (W.M. Keck Observatory, Gemini South, Sub-
aru, Canada France Hawaii Telescope, and several others) are located. TMT is the
only 30-meter class observatory planned for a northern hemisphere location.
In order to carry out construction and operations on Mauna Kea, an approved
State of Hawaii Environmental Impact Statement must be prepared and approved.
This approval was obtained by TMT in 2010. In addition, any construction and use
of land on Mauna Kea requires issuance of a State of Hawaii Conservation District
Use Permit, certifying that the proposed activity is consistent with the planned uses
of the particular land and that the mountain’s resources are being conserved. All
of the required submittals, public hearings and administrative processes have been
completed and TMT expects to receive this permit in 2013.
The planned start of TMT construction is April 2014, with technically-paced com-
pletion of the project enabling early science in late 2021. Towards that construction
start, with legal access to the site expected soon, TMT has completed the first round
of geotechnical studies of the site employing ground penetrating radar and multi-
channel analysis of sonic waves. These studies yielded sonic wave velocities and
general information about strata, voids and structure. The design of the telescope
pier is now informed by this information. Further complete geotechnical borings are
planned as soon as legal right of entry is achieved.

3. TMT science based requirements

The TMT project was formally initiated in April, 2004 following three precursor
design studies (Nelson 2002; Strom 2002; Roberts et al. 2002), and the TMT Sci-
ence Advisory Committee (SAC) prepared a Science-based Requirements Document
(SRD) (http://tmt.org/sites/default/files/SRD-CCR18-Science-Based-Requirements-
Document.pdf) that defined desired TMT science and the capabilities that the TMT
observatory was required to have in order to accomplish these science programs.
The science programs studied were described more fully in a Detailed Science Case
(DSC) (http://tmt.org/sites/default/files/TMT-DSC-2007-R1.pdf) document.
The SRD capabilities were largely packaged into instrument concepts that were
used, in 2005–2006, to support a number of studies, by independent astronomy
groups, of feasible instruments that would satisfy the SRD requirements. These
 TMT: An International Observatory 83

diverse, but specific, instrument concepts enabled the development of a TMT Obser-
vatory Requirements Document (ORD) (http://tmt.org/sites/default/files/documents/
application/pdf/ord-ccr25.pdf) representing the highest level technical and engineer-
ing requirements for the TMT design. The starting point for the design was cap-
tured in an Observatory Architecture Document (OAD) (http://tmt.org/sites/default/
files/documents/application/pdf/oad-ccr25.pdf) that provides the accompanying
design architecture that meets the requirements of the ORD.
The design staff of the TMT project is governed by the ORD and OAD in
all TMT design development. These two documents represent the highest level of
TMT system engineering. A crucial feature of TMT system engineering is frequent
communication and interaction between the design team and the SAC so that the sci-
entific impact of design tradeoffs, choices and study results are well understood and
that the SAC is assured of having an important voice in assuring the delivery of TMT
science capabilities. All TMT astronomy communities are represented through the
SAC.

4. TMT architecture
Figure 1 shows a cutaway isometric view of the observatory and includes a descrip-
tion of the main features of the optical architecture. TMT is a Ritchey-Chretien 3-
mirror telescope delivering a 20’ field of view. The primary mirror is a filled-aperture
finely-segmented hyperboloid with 492 segments filling its 30 meter diameter. The
convex secondary mirror is challenging to test optically but by choosing this arrange-
ment over a Gregorian design, the f /1.0 telescope is 6 meters shorter, reducing the
size of the telescope, dome enclosure and the required site footprint. A key feature is
the flat, fully articulated tertiary mirror that enables rapid changes from one instru-
ment on the Nasmyth focus platforms to another. Thus, the observatory is able to
respond quickly to transient phenomena, changes in atmospheric conditions or to
observing programs that require agile use of several instruments.

Figure 1. TMT observatory with principal optical features.

84 Gary H. Sanders

The decision to place the telescope elevation axis above the primary mirror made
it possible to employ the Nasmyth platforms and articulated tertiary mirror to gain
such versatility. Furthermore, the large Nasmyth platforms can accommodate a large
number of instruments at once or evolution of the instrument suite during the life
of the observatory. Nasmyth platforms also provide a constant orientation for instru-
ments as the telescope elevation angle varies from zenith to the observational limit
of 65 degrees. The resulting constant gravitational vector force simplifies instrument
opto-mechanical design. TMT’s early instrument studies demonstrated that up to
about 8 instruments may be accommodated at the same time (Simard 2013).

5. TMT primary and its control systems

Closely based upon the technology base pioneered by the segmented mirror twin
10-meter W.M. Keck Observatory telescopes, the TMT primary mirror extends the
technology to a much larger segment count, 492 segments compared to Keck’s 36
segments. This is primarily a manufacturing challenge in that reducing the per seg-
ment costs while maintaining optical quality is essential to such a large project.
In order to satisfy this manufacturing goal, TMT is prototyping primary mirror
segments at several locations in the TMT partnership including firms with prior expe-
rience in producing aspheric astronomy mirrors and new firms in partner countries.
The goal is to develop robust and cost effective supply chains in the USA, Japan,
China and India, with equivalent quality and conformance to TMT requirements.
The most aspheric segment types, corresponding to the outer rings of the hyper-
boloidal mirror, have already been produced in the USA and Japan and prototyping
is underway in China and planned in the future for India. Segments have also been
successfully mounted, in the USA and Japan, on their support systems.
Control systems hardware such as segment support systems, on-segment edge sen-
sors that enable segments to be located with respect to their neighbors, and segment
actuators that respond to control system commands to adjust segment positions, will
be produced in India. Already, edge sensor and actuator prototype parts have been
fabricated in India and these are undergoing tests. Full segment support assemblies
will be fabricated in India during 2013. The primary mirror control algorithms, and
the alignment and phasing systems for the primary mirror, are being developed by
TMT in California, at the University of California, Irvine and the Jet Propulsion Lab-
oratory. These same teams were responsible for the corresponding systems at the
W.M. Keck Observatory.

6. Secondary and tertiary mirror systems

As all control of the 3-mirror telescope wave front can be carried out with the pri-
mary mirror, the secondary and tertiary mirrors can be entirely passive systems.
Both employ passive 18-point whiffle tree supports. They have been the subject of 7
industrial studies that defined design concepts and costs for constructing these sys-
tems. The secondary mirror is planned for fabrication by the USA partners. The
Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP), China will
provide the tertiary mirror system which is also referred to as a giant science steering
 TMT: An International Observatory 85

mirror as its primary function is to place the telescope optical beam on the selected
science instrument.

7. Adaptive optics and instrumentation

Reflecting the scientific interests of all TMT partner communities, all partners are
involved in instrumentation, including the adaptive optics systems. TMT adaptive
optics is being designed and prototyped in efforts in the Canada, China and the USA
(Ellerbroek 2013). TMT science instruments involve groups in all partner countries.
The main facility adaptive optics system, NFIRAOS, which can support three
instruments at the same time, is being designed at the National Research Council
Laboratory in Victoria, BC, Canada. Deformable mirror development for this multi-
conjugate system is being led by the project office with significant prototyping and
testing underway. Polar coordinate and conventional wave front sensors are being
prototyped and tested in the USA. Lasers to provide artificial guide stars, using the
atmospheric sodium ion layer, are being prototyped by the project with a commercial
supplier and also by the Chinese TMT partners at the Technical Institute of Physics
and Chemistry in Beijing, China. The Chinese effort has already included two on-sky
tests of the guide star system performance. The system to transport the light from the
guide star lasers mounted at the TMT elevation axis to the top end of the telescope
for launch is under design by the Institute of Optics and Electrics, part of TMT’s
China consortium. Dubbed the Laser Guide Star Facility, the system will provide 6
guide stars in a constellation (asterism) for use at first light, and 9 stars later in TMT
operations.

8. Observatory software
TMT observatory software, including common services, observatory control, user
interfaces, data acquisition and archiving and observation planning, will be an effort
of India and the USA partners. FOVAST, A Focal Plane Visualization and Asterism
Selection Tool has been prototyped in India to support control of science instruments
during observations. In addition, an infrared guide star catalog study is underway in
India (Subramanian et al. 2013) and a design study of TMT event services, also in
India, is planned later in 2013.

9. Conclusions
TMT will open the era of extremely large telescope observing with diffraction lim-
ited performance to generations of observation from Mauna Kea. However, it also
represents an unprecedented global partnership in astronomy planning, telescope
technology development, big science collaboration and project management and,
most important, it initiates a new era in which frontier optical and infrared astron-
omy will be carried out by the national and international communities of Asia and
America. Beyond its enormous light collection capability and the power of its reso-
lution, TMT’s science reach will focus the human capital, the talent and curiosity, of
much of the global community.
86 Gary H. Sanders

Acknowledgements
The TMT Project gratefully acknowledges the support of the TMT collaborat-
ing institutions. They are the Association of Canadian Universities for Research
in Astronomy (ACURA), the California Institute of Technology, the University of
California, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the National Astro-
nomical Observatories of China and their consortium partners, and the Department
of Science and Technology of India and their supported institutes. This work was
supported as well by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Canada Founda-
tion for Innovation, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, the National
Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Coun-
cil of Canada, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, the Association
of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and the U.S. National Science
Foundation.

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