Patent ID: 8251315

Claim:
A formation flight device for a solar coronagraphy mission, comprising: a carrying satellite having a center which, with the center of the sun, defines an axis of the carrying satellite, said carrying satellite comprising a coronagraph oriented toward the sun and at least one solar panel located on a face of said carrying satellite oriented toward the sun, an occulting satellite, located between the sun and the carrying satellite, generating a shadow cast on the carrying satellite, the sun, the occulting satellite and the coronagraph being aligned in that order and defining a line of sight of the coronagraph, and the shadow cast by the occulting satellite on the carrying satellite masking all the central part of the sun for the coronagraph, enabling said coronagraph to image the solar corona, wherein said coronagraph is off-centered, shifted to a side of the carrying satellite, the line of sight of the coronagraph being distinct from the axis of the carrying satellite, and the occulting satellite on said line of sight of the coronagraph resulting in a shifting of the shadow cast by the occulting satellite to the side of the carrying satellite where the coronagraph is located, wherein the shadow cast by the occulting satellite on the carrying satellite does not entirely cover the face oriented toward the sun of said carrying satellite and, the solar panel is not entirely covered by said cast shadow, wherein said face oriented toward the sun of said carrying satellite is a front face centered on the axis of said carrying satellite, and said solar panel is off-centered on said front face, shifted opposite the coronagraph on said carrying satellite.