About
A concept study, not a product.
Smart Reflectors Space presents a concept study of inflatable, steerable thin-film reflectors that concentrate sunlight into heat at a point of use on the Moon or Mars. It is at TRL 1–2: there is no hardware and no test data yet. The next step described is a 3–4 m ground demonstrator that measures flux at the focus, pointing accuracy and film ageing.
Who
The study follows Vincent Alder, Thomas Jean-Renaud Lagarde and Marc M. Cohen, "Inflatable SmartReflectors for Multiple Human Space Exploration Applications", ASCE Earth & Space 2024 (author preprint).
Earlier work
The concept claims no novelty and builds on earlier work: the STS-77 inflatable antenna (1996), NASA NIAC TransFormers (Stoica, JPL, 2013–2017) and optical mining.
Numbers on this site
Figures such as 250 W/kg are concept-study estimates of concentrated heat, not electrical output, not measured and not flight-proven. The focus calculator shows its formulas under "Methodology".