Eric Schmidt Funds Four New Telescopes: A Faster Path to Discovery

Eric and Wendy Schmidt are investing in building four large telescopes, including a space telescope that will rival Hubble. The projects use existing technology and are expected to be operational within four years, compared to the ten years or more that traditional telescopes take to build. One of the telescopes, Argus Array, consists of 1,200 small telescopes that together can photograph the entire northern sky in a few minutes. Schmidt Sciences, which is part of Eric and Wendy Schmidt's philanthropic activities, is funding the construction of four new telescopes. Eric Schmidt is the former CEO of Google. The organization presented its plans at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix on January 9, 2026. The four telescopes are collectively named the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System. They include the Lazuli space telescope, the Argus Array that continuously photographs the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere, the Deep Synoptic Array that scans cosmic radio frequencies, and the Large Fiber Array Spectroscopic Telescope that collects light from distant stars, planets and galaxies. Faster and cheaper than traditional projects The goal is to have all four telescopes operational within four years. This is a short time compared to the ten years or more that world-class astronomical facilities often take to complete. Arpita Roy, head of the Astrophysics and Space Institute at Schmidt Sciences, described the project as an experiment in accelerating astrophysical discoveries. The projects largely use technology that is already available, particularly the high-performance computer chips that have driven developments in artificial intelligence. The technology is combined in new ways to offer new capabilities for astronomers. Schmidt Sciences has quietly funded preliminary studies, technology development and prototypes for several years. The organization now has agreements with universities that will manage the ground-based systems, and manufacturing of components has begun. Shorter lifespan but lower cost Unlike traditional telescopes that are built to operate for decades, Schmidt Sciences is planning for shorter operational periods. Roy said the organization plans to operate these experiments for defined lifetimes and then move on to the next project. The lifetimes they are committing to now are three to five years. The idea is that the telescopes can be replaced by new observatories that take advantage of constantly improving technology. This can still be cheaper than the traditional approach. Stuart Feldman, president of Schmidt Sciences, said the Lazuli space telescope costs hundreds of millions of dollars. The ground-based telescopes are not cheap either, but the Schmidts did not want to reveal exactly how much they are investing. The Lazuli space telescope will rival Hubble Lazuli will have a mirror slightly larger than the one in the Hubble Space Telescope. Originally, a mirror six meters in diameter was manufactured, which would make it more than twice as wide as Hubble's. But that mirror consists of a single piece of glass and can only be sent into orbit with Starship, the SpaceX rocket still under development. Because Starship development has been slower than promised, Schmidt Sciences changed their plans in the fall of 2024. Feldman said Starship schedules are malleable and that they will revisit the issue in the future. The project originated from discussions between Feldman and Saul Perlmutter, an astrophysicist at Berkeley who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011 for the discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Lazuli will be more capable of measuring the colors of exploding white dwarfs. The shift of wavelengths toward the redder part of the spectrum shows how quickly distant galaxies are moving away from us. More recent observations indicate that white dwarf supernovae are not all exactly alike, and that the nature of dark energy has changed over time. Lazuli can provide data to help solve the mystery. The spacecraft can also pivot faster in space than Hubble or the James Webb Space Telescope, allowing it to measure newly discovered supernovae when they reach maximum brightness. Lazuli will also be able to study planets around other stars by blocking the glare from the stars. 1,200 small telescopes will photograph the entire night sky Argus Array will consist of 1,200 small telescopes, each with an 11-inch mirror. They are arranged on top of eight circular mounts that move in unison. The design does not include a traditional protective telescope dome but is instead housed in what looks like a warehouse building with skylights. Nicholas Law, professor of astronomy and physics at the University of North Carolina who oversees Argus, said the small telescopes will scan the entire sky within minutes. The 1,200 telescopes cannot as easily detect fast-moving objects like asteroids and are not designed to see as far out into space. But they cover the sky faster. Because Argus continuously covers the entire sky, it can immediately follow up when another instrument makes a discovery. If LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, detects gravitational waves from a black hole collision somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere sky, Argus can see if there is any visual counterpart to the event. Argus saves all data collected during the previous week. Astronomers can go back and see if there were signs of something happening before LIGO detected the gravitational waves. According to Law, the system can function almost like a time machine. The location of the telescope has not yet been announced, but Law said it will likely be in Texas. He hopes it will collect its first light in 2027. Alex Gerko, a Russian-born British billionaire and financial trader, is co-funding the project with Schmidt Sciences. Radio telescope with 1,650 dishes Deep Synoptic Array will consist of 1,650 radio dishes, each 20 feet wide, spread across 60,000 acres in Nevada. It surveys the sky at radio wavelengths instead of visible light. Gregg Hallinan, professor of astronomy at California Institute of Technology, said the telescope is unparalleled compared to any telescope now or in the future currently planned. He pointed out that every radio telescope ever built in the last century combined has found about ten million radio sources. Deep Synoptic Array will double that in the first 24 hours. During the five-year survey, the telescope is expected to find one billion radio sources in the universe. Construction could begin next year. Spectroscopy at scale Large Fiber Array Spectroscopic Telescope, LFAST, will consist of many optical telescopes. Its main purpose is to measure spectra, or colors, not take photographs. That color information is key to understanding brief events like supernovae and identifying the contents of atmospheres on planets around other stars. Chad Bender, astronomer at the University of Arizona who is in charge of LFAST, said astronomers want to collect many more spectra, but there is not enough time available on current telescopes. Because many smaller telescopes are cheaper than one large one, the hope is that LFAST will provide that capacity at a lower cost. The Arizona team is currently building a prototype to be tested, and depending on how it works, the design can be modified and expanded.