NOAO tracks progress and explores collaborative relationships with all developing facilities that bring new, desirable capabilities to the U.S. System.

• DCT - The Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) is a 4.3-meter aperture telescope being built by Lowell Observatory at a site called Happy Jack, about 40 miles southeast of Flagstaff. The primary mirror was delivered to the site in June, 2010. First light is scheduled for 2011.
• GMT - The Giant Magellan Telescope is a 21.5m effective aperture telescope planned for Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Partners include the Carnegie Institution for Science, Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution, Texas A&M University, the University of Arizona, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Chicago, and several foreign institutions. Science operations are planned to begin in 2018.
• LSST - The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope is a 8.4m aperture telescope with a 3.5 degree diameter field of view and a 3 billion pixel camera. Planned to begin operations on Cerro Pachon in Chile in 2018, LSST will carry out a ten-year long survey of the visible sky, imaging each point about 1000 times.
• MRO - Magdalena Ridge Observatory is a new facility under development by New Mexico Tech in the Magdalena mountains of New Mexico. It will include a 2.4m aperture telescope and an interferometric array of ten 1.4m telescopes.
• TMT - The Thirty Meter Telescope is a 30m effective aperture telescope planned for Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. Partners include Caltech, the University of California, and several foreign institutions. Science operations are planned to begin in 2018.