Money has already been mentioned, so has James Webb space telescope. But also worth mentioning is that advances in optics (active and adaptive optics, better mi

Money has already been mentioned, so has James Webb space telescope. But also worth mentioning is that advances in optics (active and adaptive optics, better mirror manufacturing processes) and image processing has made earth-based telescope a viable alternative for space-based telescopes. It's a lot cheaper to build (and fix!) telescopes on the surface of the earth (in a few select locations like the Atacama desert, the Canary islands and mountains on Hawaii) and the best of current telescopes can deliver images with similar quality to what the Hubble space telescope can produce.