System Design of Sunshield on the MSC

MSC as a payload of KOMPSAT-2 is an optical telescope for earth imaging on a sun-synchronous orbit. The MSC is a Ritchey-Chretien type telescope composed of hyperbolic primary and secondary mirrors with focal correcting lenses. Their relative positions should be kept aligned during imaging operation. However, the MSC is exposed to adverse thermal environment on orbit which can have some impacts on optical performance as well as structural endurance. Solar incidence can cause non-uniform temperature rise on the tube which entails unfavorable thermal distortion. Three options were proposed, which were internal shield, external mechanical shield and spacecraft maneuvering. After the trade-off studies, internal sun shield was selected as a realistic and optimal solution to minimize the effect of the solar radiation. In this paper, pros and cons are explained for the three possible choices and a design of the internal shield is discussed.