For most civilizations, practical terraforming can't afford to wait thousands of years - you need that planet ready now, or at least within a couple of decades. Additionally, in an age of ecocybernetic designer ecologies and landscapes, planets can be tailor-made to order, aesthetically sculpted and painted to the highest standard. One of the tools that helps realize this dream is the solar bore, nicknamed the Devil's Cinnamon Roll by terraformers, a colossal, ultra-light vehicle that floats on top of the upper atmosphere. About as wide as the entirety of New York state or Spain, it is mostly made of thin-film mirrors that concentrate sunlight (itself already concentrated by mirrors in orbit) into the center to melt and sculpt entire landscapes at once. Frequently it is used to bore giant river canyons for planetary climate control.

Solar bore concept is taken from Paul Birch's paper, Terraforming Mars Quickly.