Lazuli Space Telescope targets 27 exoplanets for planned 2029 launch

New research has identified a list of 27 exoplanet targets for the upcoming Lazuli Space Telescope, Universe Today reported. The planned uncrewed observatory will be the first private space telescope and is scheduled to launch by 2029. Universe Today reported that some of the targets are well-known exoplanets that will benefit from deeper scientific observations. [1]

The Lazuli Space Telescope is funded by Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive officer of Google, according to Universe Today. The observatory will feature a 3-meter mirror, making it larger than the 2.4-meter mirror on the Hubble Space Telescope. Universe Today stated that the spacecraft will carry three instruments, including a wide-field optical imager. [1]

Space telescopes operate in outer space to observe astronomical targets without atmospheric interference, light pollution, or cloud cover. The concept was proposed by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, leading to early instruments such as the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 in 1968 and the Soviet Orion 1 ultraviolet telescope aboard Salyut 1 in 1971. [2]

The private mission follows other dedicated exoplanet observatories, such as NASA's Pandora small satellite, which launched on January 11, 2026, on a SpaceX rideshare mission into a Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit. As FTMQ Space reported earlier, space observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope continue to make detailed atmospheric findings on distant gas giants, such as mapping asymmetric winds on exoplanet WASP-17b. [3][4]