AtLAST

Atacama Large Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope

AtLAST: the future sub-mm single dish telescope

We participate in the design studies for a next generation 50-meter class single-dish astronomical observatory operating at sub-millimeter and millimeter wavelengths.

  • Located at the Chajnantor plateau in Chile, excellent site for sub-mm observations
  • With a large main-dish aperture: 50-m class
  • With a large FoV (> 1 square degree)
  • Powered by renewable energy
  • Run as a facility observatory
  • Addresses a broad variety of scientific cases

To know all about the project, visit the web site of AtLAST:  www.atlast-telescope.org

Design of the 50-meter Atacama Large Aperture Submm Telescope

T. Mroczkowski et al. 2025, A&A, 694, A142, 26 pp. (arXiv:2402.18645)

Design and consolidation studies funded by EU

The design study (2021-2024) was carried out by an international consortium of European universities, research institutes and industry. The effort was led by the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Oslo.

The next phase of the project, called AtLAST2, started in 2025 and will go through 2028. UCM has joined this effort as a full member of the consortium and its contributions will focus on the development of the AtLAST Operations Plan as well as to the definition and preparatory work for various science cases.

AtLAST has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No.101188037 and No. 951815.

Towards more sustainable operations

The AtLAST UCM-node has a strong involvement in conceiving its Operations plan, Data Management plan and User Support model. These are being discussed and developed as part of the AtLAST2 Work Package 4: Telescope Operations and User Experience.

We are proposing a modern operations plan for AtLAST based on elements that we consider key:

  • Sustainability
  • Transparency
  • Community Involvement
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Safety
  • A Lean, high performance model.

Overview talk of the AtLAST operations plan at the conference “The Atacama Large Aperture Submillimiter Telescope (AtLAST) design study: results, science, and next steps” held in Mainz, Germany (May 2024).

AtLAST's science drivers

AtLAST will address a broad range of science cases, proposed by the community. These determine the design specifications of the observatory. Check the AtLAST collection in Open Research Europe.