Multiple-Cone Sunshade for a Spaceborne Telescope

A document describes a sunshade assembly for the spaceborne telescope of the Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph mission. During operation, the telescope is aimed at target stars in the semi-hemisphere away from the Earth’s Sun. The observatory rotates about its pointing axis during a single star observation, resulting in relative movement of the Sun. The sunshade assembly protects the telescope against excessive solar-induced thermal distortions for times long enough to complete observations.