 In 2004 , Texas A & M joined a consortium of universities and countries to build the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile ; the largest optical telescope ever constructed , the facility has seven mirrors , each with a diameter of 8 @.@ 4 meters ( 9 @.@ 2 yd ) . This gives the telescope the equivalent of a 24 @.@ 5 meters ( 26 @.@ 8 yd ) primary mirror and is ten times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope . Ground @-@ breaking for the construction of the telescope began in November 2015 . 
