A Near Omnidirectional Sunshade for Cryogenic Instruments

A sunshield has been designed that minimizes the heat load on a space telescope that uses cryogenically cooled mirrors. It shades the solar radiation from any direction except for a small solid angle about the line of sight.

This design allows great freedom in pointing a cold telescope-like sensor with respect to the sun since it employs a much shorter, smaller and lighter sunshade than that which has been previously available. It requires no external coaling system and does not add significantly to the heat load.