I agree launch capacity is getting cheaper, but the cost of making a telescope is not. For example. https://optcorp.com/products/planewave-1-meter-observatory-t

I agree launch capacity is getting cheaper, but the cost of making a telescope is not. For example. https://optcorp.com/products/planewave-1-meter-observatory-telescope https://optcorp.com/products/planewave-1-meter-observatory-t... This scope is not built for space travel. This model for space telescopes from NASA put a price tag on all the major components for building and operating a single space telescope is counted in billions. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20110015780/downloads/20110015780.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20110015780/downloads/20... A couple of things not covered in other comments are the costs of mission control and end-of-life deorbiting. It is far cheaper to rent a car, drive to an observatory, mount your evolving experiment on scope, and debug it on-site than to put the same experiment in orbit. Terrestrial telescope mission control is ad hoc and usually in a heated/air-conditioned shack on the mountaintop.