Patent 8480241 was granted and assigned to Lockheed Martin on July, 2013 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A space based occulter is provided. It comprises a base portion and a blanket section extending radially from the base portion. A plurality of starlight blocking petals are attached to the base portion and attached to the blanket section, the petals extending radially from the base portion, each of the petals being hingedly connected to an adjacent petal.