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Time domain astronomy is revolutionizing our understanding of the universe. One of the biggest issues with the flood of temporal data is following up on the plethora of discoveries. There just is not enough telescope time available to observe the new objects in detail, especially spectroscopically. Building a new 3 meter class telescope is very expensive, but a telescope that size would be ideal to observe a large fraction of the objects. We propose to create a custom 3 meter telescope, using 1 meter mirrors mounted on the same telescope frame. Each mirror would feed a dedicated fiber optic, and the whole telescope would be designed to be easily replicable and maintainable, as well as have high optical throughput and be fully automated. Once the first "multiple telescope telescope" has been commissioned, multiple copies would be built and stationed around the world, creating a new network of spectroscopic telescopes that can continually monitor the sky. Versions of this technology could be used to build 6 or 8 meter telescopes for far less than a single monolithic mirror.
Reed Riddle (Wed,) studied this question.