page_title: Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor
section_title: LUVOIR-A
hierarchical_section_title: Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor / Design / LUVOIR-A
caption_attribution_description: English: A direct, to-scale, comparison between the primary mirrors of the Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, and the proposed High Definition Space Telescope (HDST) Español: Una comparación directa, a escala, entre los espejos primarios de el Telescopio Espacial Hubble, el Telescopio Espacial James Webb, y el propuesto Telescopio Espacial de Alta Definición (HDST)
context_page_description: The Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor, commonly known as LUVOIR, is a multi-wavelength space observatory concept being developed by NASA under the leadership of a Science and Technology Definition Team. It is one of four large astrophysics space mission concepts being studied in preparation for the National Academy of Sciences 2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey. While LUVOIR is a concept for a general-purpose observatory, it has the key science goal of characterizing a wide range of exoplanets, including those that might be habitable. An additional goal is to enable a broad range of astrophysics, from the reionization epoch, through galaxy formation and evolution, to star and planet formation. Powerful imaging and spectroscopy observations of Solar System bodies would also be possible. LUVOIR would be a Large Strategic Science Mission and will be considered for a development start sometime after 2020. The LUVOIR Team has produced designs for two variants of LUVOIR: one with a 15 m diameter telescope mirror and one with an 8 m diameter mirror. LUVOIR can observe ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths of light.
context_section_description: LUVOIR-A, previously known as the High Definition Space Telescope (HDST), would be composed of 36 mirror segments with an aperture of 15 m (49 ft) in diameter, offering images up to 24 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope. LUVOIR-A would be large enough to find and study the dozens of Earthlike planets in our nearby neighborhood. It could resolve objects such as the nucleus of a small galaxy or a gas cloud on the way to collapsing into a star and planets. The first study for the HDST was published by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) on July 6, 2015. The case for HDST was made in a report entitled "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earths", on the future of astronomy commissioned by AURA, which runs the Hubble and other observatories on behalf of NASA and the National Science Foundation. Ideas for the original HDST proposal included an internal coronagraph, a disk that blocks light from the central star, making a dim planet more visible, and a starshade that would float kilometers out in front of it to perform the same function. Initial cost estimates are approximately $10 billion. LUVOIR-A folds so it only needs an 8-metre wide payload fairing.
caption: A direct, to-scale, comparison between the primary mirrors of the Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, and LUVIOR-A (HDST)
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