"The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a masterpiece for astronomy and astrophysics and also for public outreach and education serving as an inspiration for all mankind. However, the HST is coming to age and will have to be retired soon. The James Webb Space Telescope cannot be considered a follow-on telescope to the HST as its observing spectrum will be in the infrared spectrum only, while the HST can observe in the ultraviolet (UV) and the visual spectrum too. Consequently, the UV-community will be left behind or even blind. Acknowledging that professional UV-astronomers are mostly interested in observing celestial objects of the local universe and that the hobby astronomer community as well as the general public's interest in astronomy is centered on bright objects as well offers an interesting opportunity to establish a follow-on telescope to the HST, which can be extremely cost-effective. This is due to two reasons: a) a telescope focusing on bright objects is not required to work with a huge aperture and b) recent advances in electronics, sensors, light-weight structures etc. have enabled the rise of small satellite systems. By combining these aspects an interesting concept arises, which is the aim of the project ""Public Telescope"":
• A sub-meter space telescope for ultraviolet, visual and near-infrared spectroscopy and imaging
• An Internet-based service-platform for order and configuration
• A combination of huge scientific need with a sustainable commercial potential
The scope of the feasibility study is the concretization of the addressable market volume and the customer groups, the required infrastructure to serve the market and the elaboration of a roadmap for implementation of the business concept. The following work packages build the base of the study:
1 Concretion of user requirements
The exploration of user requirements is needed to develop a cost estimation for the space telescope and the related infrastructure as well as for estimation of observation capacity demand.
2 Development of a rough mission concept
The mission concept is required in order to estimate the cost of the space mission project. This includes satellite bus, optics, instruments, communication, orbit, ground station, data distribution
3 Estimate of overall project cost
The cost estimate is developed from the mission concept. It is needed as one input for the profitability calculation for the founders and potential private investors.
4 Development of product, price and quantity structures
This describes the revenue side of the business concept. It works as another input for the profitability calculation.
5 Development of the business plan
The business plan merges the outcome of all work packages. Furthermore, it adds information about the market, the competition and the business model that already exist.
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