The concept of space-based reflector technology as a method to terraform planets like Mars, enhance food production, undertake local weather manipulation and supply energy is often used in science fiction. This concept is an integral part of many major science-fiction stories, while the underlying concept is not based in science fiction but could be carried out with current technology. In his book "Blue Mars" from 1996 Kim Stanley Robinson writes about solettas - a collection of orbital mirrors - as a tool used to terraform Mars. In "3001: The Final Odyssey" from 1999, Arthur C. Clarke mentions a deployable Sun-screen beyond the orbit of Neptune.

The soletta in Kim Stanley Robinson's book is used to heat the atmosphere of Mars using the additional sunlight reflected by the mirrors in orbit. In Clarke's book, the Sun-screen is used to provide shade. The science-fiction concepts for terraforming planets, producing large quantities of food and having access to a continuous power supply by using solettas and Sun-screens, are based on a concept that is within the scope of current technology. Solettas made out of deployable structures still challenge material science if the structure is large and a high surface precision is required. Their feasibility still has to be properly investigated.

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