  A 10 meter diameter submillimeter-wave telescope has been proposed for the
NSF Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Current evidence indicates that the
South Pole is the best submillimeter-wave telescope site among all existing or
proposed ground-based observatories. Proposed scientific programs place
stringent requirements on the optical quality of the telescope design. In
particular, reduction of the thermal background and offsets requires an
off-axis, unblocked aperture, and the large field of view needed for survey
observations requires shaped optics. This mix of design elements is well-suited
for large scale (square degree) mapping of line and continuum radiation from
submillimeter-wave sources at moderate spatial resolutions (4 to 60 arcsecond
beam size) and high sensitivity (milliJansky flux density levels). the
telescope will make arcminute angular scale, high frequency Cosmic Microwave
Background measurements from the best possible ground-based site, using an
aperture which is larger than is currently possible on orbital or airborne
platforms. Effective use of this telescope will require development of large
(1000 element) arrays of submillimeter detectors which are background-limited
when illuminated by antenna temperatures near 50 K.
