A concept for very large telescopes using pupil plane correction optics and lower-cost spherical primary mirror segments

Summary form only given. For very large, space-erectable optical systems (NASA science missions, high energy laser weapons, etc.), the telescope´s primary mirror (PM) would likely be an ensemble of mirror segments deployed as concentric rings of reflective mirror segments. Most optical design forms for high-performance telescopes employ a conic PM shape. This paper discusses a concept for a telescope optical design form that would use one spherical shape for all of the PM segments, and correct the increased aberration with a segmented corrector downstream at a pupil.