[2] Using active optics technique to control its reflecting corrector makes it a unique astronomical instrument in combining large aperture with wide field of view.

The available large focal plane may accommodate up to thousands of fibers, by which the collected light of distant and faint celestial objects down to 20.5 magnitude is fed into the spectrographs, promising a very high spectrum acquiring rate of ten-thousands of spectra per night.

Particular scientific goals of the LAMOST include: It is also hoped that the vast volume of data produced will lead to additional serendipitous discoveries.

A 2011 conference presentation [4]: 10–12  suggests that there was initially a problem with accuracy of the fiber positioners causing poor throughput, but that this was rectified by adding another calibration step.

The same presentation also points out that the telescope's location, only 115 km (71 mi) NW of Beijing,[4]: 9  is far from ideal, being in an area with high levels of both atmospheric and light pollution.