There has long been a limiting factor in the development of space-based telescopes — launch fairings. These capsules essentially limit the overall size of the mirrors we are able to launch into space, thereby limiting the sensitivity of many of those instruments. Despite those limitations, some of the most successful telescopes ever have been space-based. But even with all the advantages of being in space, they have so far failed to find an exoplanet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star.
