The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) adaptive optics (AO) system will be an integral part of the telescope, providing laser guidestar generation, wavefront sensing, and wavefront correction to every instrument currently planned on the 25.4 m diameter GMT. There will be three first generation AO observing modes: Natural Guidestar, Laser Tomography, and Ground Layer AO. All three will use a segmented adaptive secondary mirror to deliver a corrected beam directly to the instruments.The Natural Guidestar mode will provide extreme AO performance, with a total wavefront error less than 185 nm RMS using bright guidestars. The Laser Tomography mode uses 6 lasers and a single off-axis natural guidestar to deliver better than 290 nm RMS wavefront error at the science target, over 50% of the sky at the galactic pole. The Ground Layer mode uses 4 natural guidestars on the periphery of the science field to tomographically reconstruct and correct the ground layer AO turbulence, improving the image quality for wide-field instruments. A phasing system maintains the relative alignment of the primary and secondary segments using edge sensors and continuous feedback from an off-axis guidestar. We describe the AO system preliminary design, predicted performance, and the remaining technical challenges as we move towards the start of construction.

The Giant Magellan Telescope presents a unique optical design with seven 8.4m diameter primary mirrors matched by seven adaptive secondary mirrors (ASM). The ASMs can be controlled in several different Adaptive optics (AO) observing modes coupled to the telescope. One of these AO systems, the Laser Tomography Adaptive Optics (LTAO) system is currently in its preliminary design phase. The LTAO observing mode will provide a Strehl ratio in H band of at least 30% over more than 20% of the sky and an ensquared energy in K band of at least 40% in a 50 milli-arcsec spaxel over more than 50% of the sky. To achieve its performance requirements, the LTAO observing mode uses six 20W Laser Guide Stars (LGS) with six order-50x50 Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors. The LGSs are launched from three locations at the periphery of the telescope primaries. A natural guide star (NGS) is used separately to measure tip-tilt, focus and low-bandwidth-loworder aberrations. A open-loop controlled deformable mirror corrects the off-axis NGS infrared wavefront. We give an update on the design of the LTAO WFSs, the LGS facility, the on-instrument wavefront sensors and the tomography and control algorithms.

Space debris in low Earth orbit below 1500km is becoming an increasing threat to satellites and spacecrafts. Radar and laser tracking are currently used to monitor the orbits of thousands of space debris and active satellites are able to use this information to manoeuvre out of the way of a predicted collision. However, many satellites are not able to manoeuvre and debris-on debris collisions are becoming a significant contributor to the growing space debris population. The removal of the space debris from orbit is the preferred and more definitive solution. Space debris removal may be achieved through laser ablation, whereby a high power laser corrected with an adaptive optics system could, in theory, allow ablation of the debris surface and so impart a remote thrust on the targeted object. The goal of this is to avoid collisions between space debris to prevent an exponential increase in the number of space debris objects. We are developing an experiment to demonstrate the feasibility of laser ablation for space debris removal. This laser ablation demonstrator utilises a pulsed sodium laser to probe the atmosphere ahead of the space debris and the sun reflection of the space debris is used to provide atmospheric tip-tilt information. A deformable mirror is then shaped to correct an infrared laser beam on the uplink path to the debris. We present here the design and the expected performance of the system.

The Giant Magellan Telescope adaptive optics system will be an integral part of the telescope, providing laser guide star generation, wavefront sensing, and wavefront correction to most of the currently envisioned instruments. The system will provide three observing modes: Natural Guidestar AO (NGSAO), Laser Tomography AO (LTAO), and Ground Layer AO (GLAO).All observing modes will use the telescope's segmented adaptive secondary mirror to deliver a corrected beam directly to the instruments. High-order wavefront sensing for the NGSAO and LTAO modes is provided by a set of wavefront sensors replicated for each instrument and fed by visible light reflected off the cryostat window. An infrared natural guidestar wavefront sensor with open-loop AO correction is also required to sense tip-tilt, focus, segment piston, and dynamic calibration errors in the LTAO mode. GLAO mode wavefront sensing is provided by laser guidestars over a ~5 arcminute field of view, and natural guidestars over wider fields. A laser guidestar facility will project 120 W of 589 nm laser light in 6 beacons from the periphery of the primary mirror. An off-axis phasing camera and primary and secondary mirror metrology systems will ensure that the telescope optics remain phased. We describe the system requirements, overall architecture, and innovative solutions found to the challenges presented by high-order AO on a segmented extremely large telescope. Further details may be found in specific papers on each of the observing modes and major subsystems.

Space debris in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is becoming an increasing threat to satellite and spacecraft. A reliable and cost effective method for detecting possible collisions between orbiting objects is required to prevent an exponential growth in the number of debris. Current RADAR survey technologies used to monitor the orbits of thousands of space debris objects are relied upon to manoeuvre operational satellites to prevent possible collisions. A complimentary technique, ground-based laser LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) have been used to track much smaller objects with higher accuracy than RADAR, giving greater prediction of possible collisions and avoiding unnecessary manoeuvring. Adaptive optics will play a key role in any ground based LIDAR tracking system as a cost effective way of utilising smaller ground stations or less powerful lasers. The use of high power and high energy lasers for the orbital modification of debris objects will also require an adaptive optic system to achieve the high photon intensity on the target required for photon momentum transfer and laser ablation. EOS Space Systems have pioneered the development of automated laser space debris tracking for objects in low Earth orbit. The Australian National University have been developing an adaptive optics system to improve this space debris tracking capability at the EOS Space Systems Mount Stromlo facility in Canberra, Australia. The system is integrated with the telescope and commissioned as an NGS AO system before moving on to LGS AO and tracking operations. A pulsed laser propagated through the telescope is used to range the target using time of flight data. Adaptive optics is used to increase the maximum range and number or targets available to the LIDAR system, by correcting the uplink laser beam. Such a system presents some unique challenges for adaptive optics: high power lasers reflecting off deformable mirrors, high slew rate tracking, and variable off-axis tracking correction. A low latency real time computer system is utilised to control the systems, with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and deformable mirror running at 1500 frames per second. A laser guide star is used to probe the atmosphere and the tracked debris object is used as a natural guide star for tip-tilt correction.