The first privately funded space-based telescope is in the works

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy, could help make history with a new project unveiled on Wednesday, the Lazuli Space Observatory. As reported by Science, the telescope was announced at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society this week and could be the largest privately funded space telescope in history thanks to investments from the Schmidts.

Lazuli's design features a 3.1-meter mirror, which would make it larger than NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (but smaller than the James Webb Space Telescope).