Technology
Three technologies make the TDT possible: extreme adaptive optics in the optical blue, near-read-noise-free detectors, and agentic automation. The TDT concept shows how they come together.
Extreme adaptive optics
Diffraction-limited images of about 0.1″ in the optical blue, diluting the sky background by a factor of 100.
Detectors
Near-read-noise-free detectors, read out independently for each unit telescope.
Automation & operations
A PI-driven observatory with agentic scheduling that reconfigures the array in under a minute.
Development path
Some key technologies for the TDT are not available today: robotic extreme adaptive optics in the blue, sufficiently powerful laser guide stars, near-read-noise-free detectors and agentic scheduling. All are areas of strong development, and the TDT development plan pushes forward on each of them.
After technical tests in Europe, a first version of the TDT, proto-TDT/FAROS, is planned at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. It adapts the four Auxiliary Telescopes of the VLT Interferometer to also work as TDT units, testing the robotic adaptive optics, the detectors and the scheduling together. With the laser guide stars of the VLT and the nearby Extremely Large Telescope, it is also a real-world test of laser avoidance. On its own, proto-TDT/FAROS would be comparable to a single 4 m class telescope operating near the diffraction limit.
The modular design allows a gradual roll-out: the prototype and the first completed unit telescopes deliver science to the community almost from day one, with the required technologies within reach on a 15-year timescale.