A giant mirror with a diameter of 3.5 meters has been designed in Toulouse, France. This mirror will be mounted in front of the Herschel Space Telescope, which is set to launch into space in 2007. 
If everything goes well, it will allow the monitoring of the formation of the first stars. This unique device is the largest space mirror in the world, resulting from 10 years of research and 4 years of design.
The mirror, developed by the European Space Agency, will illuminate dark regions of space, areas that are currently invisible. Thanks to the infrared light collected by the telescope, our understanding of the universe will need to be reevaluated.
Scientists have stated: “The Herschel Telescope will allow scientists to better understand the formation of stars, and from those stars, the formation of galaxies. This process began about 12 billion years ago and has been continuously evolving since then.”
The Herschel Telescope is scheduled to be launched into space in 2007. Operating in an environment of minus 200 degrees Celsius, it is expected to function for 4 years.
After that, the beautiful mirror will drift aimlessly in space.
