LUVOIR: James Webb Telescope's Successor - Next Gen Space Observatory
Estimated cost: 15 - 24 Billion USD

The Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) is a concept for a highly capable, multi-wavelength space observatory with ambitious science goals. This mission would enable great leaps forward in a broad range of science, from the epoch of reionization, through galaxy formation and evolution, star and planet formation, to solar system remote sensing. LUVOIR also has the major goal of characterizing a wide range of exoplanets, including those that might be habitable - or even inhabited.

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The LUVOIR-A sunshade is 56-m × 56-m, while the LUVOIR-B sunshade is 48-m x
48-m. Both are simpler than the JWST sunshield: LUVOIR’s have three layers instead of
JWST’s five and relaxed requirements on layer positioning after deployment

Serviceable and upgradable modular design
Sun - Earth L2 orbit
Late 2030s launch date
5-year prime mission; 10 yrs. consumables;
25-year lifetime goal for non-serviceable
components
Diffraction limited at 500 nm;
270 K telescope operating temp.
angles 45 degrees (33 steradians)
Tracking speed: 60 mas/sec (2x JWST)

Credit:
NASA.gov
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Conceptual Image Lab
asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/luvoir
www.luvoirtelescope.org

Music:
"Half Mystery" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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What if the SLS Block 2 launch vehicle is not available in the 2030s?

LUVOIR’s segmented telescope architecture facilitates scalability, as demonstrated with
LUVOIR-B. LUVOIR can take advantage of future opportunities in heavy lift launch vehicles with large fairings (e.g., NASA’s SLS Block 1B Cargo, Blue Origin’s New Glenn
rocket, and SpaceX’s Starship). [Chapter 10]

When will LUVOIR launch?
In the mission development schedules created for this study, the total time from approval
for formulation (start of Phase A) to launch & commissioning (end of Phase D) is 15.6
years for LUVOIR-A and 15.3 years for LUVOIR-B. With an assumed Phase A start in Jan
2025, LUVOIR-A would launch in late 2039 and LUVOIR-B in mid 2039. [Chapter 12]

How much of LUVOIR’s time will be for community observers?

LUVOIR is envisioned as a facility in the tradition of NASA’s Great Observatories (Hubble,
Compton, Chandra, Spitzer), with guest observer programs of all sizes.

What is LUVOIR’s primary technological challenge?

Achieving the wavefront stability needed for high contrast direct observations of Earthlike exoplanets using a large telescope. LUVOIR has been designed with this in mind
and a detailed plan to mature technologies has been developed.

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