We delivered an innovative and ambitious optical and mechanical design for the AtLAST observatory. Its 50-meter diameter primary mirror, up to a 2 degree diameter field of view, and agile mechanical structure provide a unique combination of sensitivity, angular resolution and mapping speed at submillimeter wavelengths. The telescope design fits up to six instruments that ensure that a broad and diverse set of users can exploit the facility.
We consulted with the world-wide scientific community working on a variety of sub-fields in Astrophysics. We summarised the most transformative science goals in three main scientific questions: 1) Where are all the baryons? 2) How do structures interact with their environments? 3) What does the time-varying submillimeter sky look like? Our science papers make use of the AtLAST sensitivity calculator and the maria simulator, developed within the framework of the project.
We identified two potential sites on the 5000m-high Chajnantor plateau in Northern Chile. On both sites, we installed specially designed 24-metre-high weather towers to simultaneously measure the wind speed and wind gusts, which have the strongest impact on the telescope structure. The preferred site is located inside the Atacama Astronomical Park.
We produced an operations plan, learning from the experience from other infrastructures such as ESO, ALMA, APEX, incorporating of lessons learned from the pandemic and based on the core principles of diversity, equity, safety, sustainability, accessibility, and transparency.
We researched available options for the future governance structure and legal entity of the AtLAST observatory, and evaluated them by considering the priorities and needs of AtLAST, such as that of an efficient implementation and operational management of the telescope.
We included a sustainability study to reduce the economic and environmental impact of the AtLAST infrastructure. We found that using primarily solar power allows to save 30-40% of costs compared to solely diesel generators. A 100% renewable setup with solar panels, batteries, and hydrogen storage results in the lowest carbon emission scenario. However, including a small supply of diesel equal to 7% of the annual demand would reduce by 27% the mineral resource depletion and water use.
We investigated the sustainability aspect also from the - often overlooked - perspective of including in the decision process the local communities in San Pedro de Atacama, to facilitate the social acceptance of the infrastructure.
We collected specifications for future AtLAST instrumentation exploiting the large focal plane of the telescope, for two timescales and five categories: continuum cameras with polarization, heterodyne arrays, integral field units, single pixel multi-band receivers, and a solar instrument.
We estimated the total costs for the realisation and operations of the AtLAST observatory, including foundation and site preparation work, site infrastructure construction, instrumentation development, and realisation of the renewable energy system.
In 2024 we organised an AtLAST conference at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and a special session of the European Astronomical Society’s annual meeting, with the participation of astronomers from the global submillimeter community. We gave 51 talks at international conferences and engaged in 57 additional dissemination actions.
