Ground based telescopes have been able to get better resolution than the hubble in the near IR for years, but only on ~1% of the sky- Laser guide stars will expand this to ~80% of the sky- we recently got a picture of a nebula that no ground based scope could take, because you need a laser to view it with adaptive optics, and we got several times the resolution of the hubble image of the object, I will post it as soon as it is released...

Longer wavelengths (ie IR) are easier to do adaptive optics on than the visible, but that is going to change- there is funding (and tha 'tax leech' can whine as much as he wants) to extend adaptive optics into the visible... the net result is that optical space telescopes will not be needed- The Hubble cost many times what Keck cost, laser guide stars promise to make Keck far more valuable than Hubble for science - A 10 meter scope is not yet possible for launch into space, but we can almost eliminate the effects of the atmosphere for ground based scopes using laser guide stars...

The powers that be are seriously looking into a 30 meter telescope, and it is looking like it may be built in antartica... That humans are willing to do so much to learn about the universe is about the only thing that gives me faith in humanity... I am proud of us monkies sometimes... imagine- just a few generations ago the sun rising was only explainable by religion....

What will our decendants think of our beliefs? My main goal when choosing a job is to make sure our decendants will be able to sneer at how primative we are now...

(Now the closest thing I have to a religious belief)
I honestly believe that humans are meant to explore the stars, this planet is too small for us... I firmly believe we will explore the stars (I say this even though I accept the speed limits imposed by relativity)

Intelligence is special, and despite some posts here we have intelligence, and we have the people to explore the universe... and what we will discover will astound us, and make us better....

(End of theological rant)

So if you wondered why I am so vehement against idiots that slander those that do science now you know... I consider them the enimies of humanity...