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

"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). It will also be equipped with a wide-field camera, a broadband integral-field spectrograph, and a coronagraph. Those instruments will be used to study everything from exoplanets to supernovae, but Schmidt Sciences also envisions Lazuli being used for "rapid response" purposes, such as quickly swiveling to gather data on objects spotted by other telescopes."

"Lazuli is part of the Schmidt Observatory System, which also includes three ground-based observatories: the Argus Array, Deep Synoptic Array (DSA), and Large Fiber Array Spectroscopic Telescope (LFAST). According to Schmidt Sciences, the system of telescopes "is grounded in a commitment to open science: data and software will be broadly shared by default." Scientists from all over the world, at any career level, will be able to utilize the telescopes and access the data collected with them."

Lazuli Space Observatory features a 3.1-meter mirror, larger than Hubble but smaller than James Webb, and will carry a wide-field camera, a broadband integral-field spectrograph, and a coronagraph. The instruments enable studies ranging from exoplanets to supernovae and support rapid-response observations by swiveling to targets identified by other facilities. Lazuli forms part of the Schmidt Observatory System alongside three ground-based facilities: the Argus Array, Deep Synoptic Array (DSA), and Large Fiber Array Spectroscopic Telescope (LFAST). The system adopts an open-science policy with data and software broadly shared by default. All four telescopes aim for operation before the decade's end.

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