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Cost data for ground-based telescopes of the last century are analyzed for trends in the relationship between aperture size and cost. We find that for apertures built prior to 1980, costs scaled as aperture size to the 2.8 power, which is consistent with the previous finding of Meinel (1978). After 1980, 'traditional' monolithic mirror telescope costs have scaled as aperture to the 2.5 power. The large multiple mirror telescopes built or in construction during this time period (Keck, LBT, GTC) appear to deviate from this relationship with significant cost savings as a result, although it is unclear what power law such structures follow. We discuss the implications of the current cost-aperture size data on the proposed large telescope projects of the next ten to twenty years. Structures that naturally tend towards the 2.0 power in the cost-aperture relationship will be the favorable choice for future extremely large apertures; our expectation is that space-based structures will ultimately gain economic advantage over ground-based ones.

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The issue of how best to distribute a large optical collecting area is revisited, including the added integration time required for a scene imaged by sparse-aperture configurations to be processed to equal that of a filled aperture, and also its influence on system architecture. The optical performance of three sparse-aperture configurations arising from a 1998 study is presented as a function of field angle and optimization criteria. Optimization of these three specific configurations shows ray FWHM and residual rms values small enough to assure excellent diffraction-limited imagery. Practical issues concerning fabrication, assembly, testing, and on-orbit phasing are identified.