Not an IR astronomer, but enthusiast astrophotographer. As I understand it there is a bit of leeway in the sunshield. They added strips of "duct tape" going acr

Not an IR astronomer, but enthusiast astrophotographer. As I understand it there is a bit of leeway in the sunshield. They added strips of "duct tape" going across layers to prevent potential tears from spreading and telescope can still achieve full science power with few tears in the sunshield, depending on their location and sizes. With bigger tears it might be possible to still carry out observations in visible spectrum and near-IR but not in mid-IR as thermal radiation would crush the signal. Mission would still be considered failure in that case.