Hubble has been in service for approximately 20 years, and is expected to be in service for another 4 years until its replacement, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is sent into orbit.
The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth around 600 kilometers out in space. In comparison, JWST is planned to be around 1.5million kilometers out in space. One of the reasons why the Hubble Space Telescope was placed so close to the surface of the Earth, is due to the fact that it was planned to be maintained once every several years by Space Shuttle crews. With 5 Space Shuttle missions being sent to the Hubble Space Telescope specifically meant to maintain and replace vital equipment, this has allowed Hubble to remain in service for 20 years already. Whereas, JWST is planned to have 10 years of operational time.
From JWST's shear mirror mass, it may provide support for the big bang since it can literally look back in time to find the origin of the universe.
For more information on JWST, please take a peek at these awesome sites:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6645179.stm
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
http://www.physorg.com/news90084957.html
Back on the surface, the largest optical telescope operating is located in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain with an aperture of 10.4 meters. Although it is larger than JWST, it is a well known fact that telescopes in space capture much more detailed pictures than any telescope on the ground.
However, the largest optical telescope being planned/built is located in Chile, where it is planned to have an aperture of 42 meters, or 138 feet! Named as the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), it is expected to begin construction this year, and may become fully operational by 2018.
For more information on this, search for this yourself, or please take a look here:
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