SpaceX Starship Super Heavy launch complex by Dale Rutherford

Picture of the Day 28/12/2020 - SpaceX's launch complex with several launch towers for Starship Super Heavies by Scottish photographer & designer Dale Rutherford. More of his art here.

Merry Christmas from Santa Claus on Mars!

Merry Christmas from Santa Claus on Mars! Retro art (1976) via Bridgeman Images.

Mars base by Maciej Rebisz

Picture of the Day 20/12/2020 - Exploration rover at human base on Mars by Polish artist Maciej Rebisz - concept art for Space Company Simulator - a management simulation game (2018) where your final goal is to launch the first manned mission to Mars. Maciej Rebisz is currently working as senior concept artist for game developer CD Projekt RED (The Witcher game series, Cyberpunk 2077); more of his art here.

Painting of Terraformed Mars by Dmytro Ivashchenko

Picture of the Day 15/12/2020 - Oil painting of terraformed Mars with Valles Marineris region at the center by Ukrainian freelance artist Dmytro Ivashchenko. More of his art here.

Video footage of Starship SN8 high-altitude test flight

Today SpaceX's Starship SN8 test vehicle performed first high-altitude test flight for Starship development program. The test was successful, reaching several milestones, including successfully performing its distinctive "skydiver" belly flop maneuver, till the very end of the flight when Starship SN8 crashed and exploded on the landing pad. SpaceX has already almost completed SN8's successor - Starship SN9. Here is full footage of today's flight from SpaceX's official livestream.

Starship is the second (spacecraft) stage of the fully reusable two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle currently developed by leading NewSpace company SpaceX. The main purpose of building such a large rocket with more than double the power of Saturn V is to enable the colonization of Mars. But Starship will be capable to do a lot of different tasks – to place satellites or space stations in orbit, ferry passengers to space stations or the Moon and even ferry passengers or cargo between any destinations on Earth within an hour.

Scott Manley's technical analysis of the flight:

Lift-off of the Starship SN8 by Tony Bela

New illustration depicting lift-off of SpaceX's Starship SN8 test vehicle from company's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas by Australian space illustrator Tony Bela. Yesterday Starship SN8 12.5km test flight was scrubbed but there is a new attempt scheduled today.

You can view Tony's infographic of the upcoming Starship SN8 flight here and his incredibly detailed posters of the flight here.

Painting of SpaceX Starship SN8 on launch stand by Colin Doublier

Picture of the Day 7/12/2020 - Painting of SpaceX's Starship SN8 on launch stand at SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas before its 12.5km test flight by French urban artist Colin Doublier. More of his art here. Starship SN8 is the first full scale flight-ready Starship prototype equipped with a nose cone, fins and three Raptor engines. Starship SN8 is accompanied by Starship's first sub-scale prototype - Starhopper - in this painting.

Will there be space travel in Cyberpunk 2077 game?

Cyberpunk 2077 is an upcoming first-person open world role playing game set in a futuristic dystopian cyberpunk world. The game is developed by Polish game developer CD Projekt Red (known for The Witcher game series considered to be one of the best RPGs ever made) and (hopefully) will be released on December 10, 2020.

Although the story of Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in the dystopian Night City on Earth, in several trailers the developers have hinted there might be some space related activities in the game. The game is adapted from Cyberpunk franchise which was created in 1988 thus splitting there from the real world timeline. Despite several destructive conflicts, in the alternate universe of Cyberpunk the first Lunar colony is established in 1997, in 2011 there is first ESA/Soviet mission to Mars and by 2025 the entire inner Solar system is sprawling with manned spaceships and there are tens of thousands of people living on the Moon, orbital space stations and Mars. You can reed about space in Cyberpunk world (as of 2025) in its sourcebook Deep Space.

In 2018 there were rumors one of CD Projekt Red studios is working on a fragment of the game taking place on the Moon. Recently when we asked Maciej Rebisz who is working as senior concept artist at CD Projekt Red and posting his space art on regular basis, if the company is working on some space themed game, he replied quite curiously, mentioning the Cyberpunk 2077:

Thanks! Can't confirm nor deny, but you can see some space related stuff in some of the marketing materials for Cyberpunk 2077 🚀

— Mac Rebisz (@voyager212) October 15, 2020

It intrigued us and we found out that indeed – recent trailers of the game provide some clues space travel could be in the game. CD Projekt Red is known for its attention to detail. It is unlikely the scrupulous developer would include depiction of space travel in numerous trailers without providing the possibility. The question remains whether it will be included in the base game or some future DLC. So, there are the clues:

There is Orbital Air Space Center near the Night City:

Incredibly detailed posters of SpaceX Starship SN8 15km test flight by Tony Bela

Australian space illustrator Tony Bela has created a set of four incredibly detailed sequential posters of the upcoming 15km test flight of SpaceX's Starship SN8 test vehicle. You can view Tony's infographic of the upcoming Starship SN8 flight here.

Starship SN8 on the launch stand at Boca Chica, Texas

Starship SN8 launch

Human colony in a Martian crater by James Vaughan

Picture of the Day 26/11/2020 - Digital painting of human colony in a Martian crater by photographer and concept artist James Vaughan. Note the Lockheed Martin's Mars lander launching from the colony. More of Vaughan's aerospace and defense concept art here.

Full painting with a man looking at the colony through a window:

Leaked official render of SpaceX Starship Super Heavy at launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas

Today YouTuber EpicDaniel posted a video which was allegedly uploaded on the official SpaceX YouTube channel on September, 28th 2019 and removed later. The video shows Starship development progress at the time and features a render of Starship Super Heavy at launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas. Here is a screen-stitch created by Austin Barnard from the video:


Note that the (possibly official) render is more than a year old now and thus outdated.

Here is full video reuploaded by EpicDaniel today:

SpaceX Starship interior concept for 64 passengers

Swedish space designer Erik Corshammar (Erc X) and YouTuber smallstars have created their concept of SpaceX's Starship interior layout for 64 passengers.





Deck 0 - cargo hold

Deck 1 - egress options & EVA spacesuits

Deck 2 & 3 - 32 crew bunks in each deck

Mars base in a crater by Sam Taylor

Picture of the Day 12/11/2020 - Retro style illustration of a human base in a Martian crater by digital artist Sam Taylor for his poster "Mars - Adventure Awaits". More of his art here.

Lunar mining colony by Jort van Welbergen

Picture of the Day 8/11/2020 - Lunar mining colony with several landing pads for SpaceX's Starships (pictured here in their 2017 design, then called Big Falcon Ship) by Dutch freelance movie and game concept designer Jort van Welbergen. More of his art here.

Closeup of one of the Starship landing pads with Earth on the horizon:

Sketch of SpaceX Starship SN8 15km flight by Colin Doublier

French urban artist Colin Doublier has created his sketch of SpaceX's Starship SN8 upcoming 15km test flight. More of his art here. The flight will (hopefully) happen in next week and Starship SN8 is the first full scale flight-ready Starship prototype equipped with a nose cone, fins and three Raptor engines.

SpaceX: No Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities

It has been revealed that in Starlink's terms of service SpaceX requires beta testers to recognize Mars as a "free planet". Under the section "Governing Law" the parties agree that:

"For Services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other colonization spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities. Accordingly, Disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement."

Interestingly the terms for the Moon are different:

"For Services provided to, on, or in orbit around the planet Earth or the Moon, these Terms and any disputes between us arising out of or related to these Terms, including disputes regarding arbitrability will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California in the United States."

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation currently being deployed by SpaceX and it will provide high-speed low-latency internet anywhere on the world (and beyond). The constellation will ultimately consist of thousands of mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), working in combination with ground transceivers.

As far as we know it is the first time any entity with real potential to send humans to Mars (defined by us as governments and private corporations with the independent human spaceflight capability, which are only four: Russia (since 1961), US (since 1962), China (since 2003) and SpaceX (since 2020)) has declared that Mars should be governed under the principles of self-government.

It remains to be seen if SpaceX will be in power do define that (US government can easily stop SpaceX operations until the company abides to the US and international law) and most likely it's just a way for Elon Musk to draw attention to the upcoming Starlink public release, but it would be cool to see Mars as an independent planet even before the timeframe we have speculated: internal self-governance in 2080s and complete independence in the 22nd century.

*Cover poster "Free Mars" by Rhys Cooper for Total Recall (1990) movie.

SpaceX Starship SN8 15km test flight infographic by Tony Bela

Australian space illustrator Tony Bela has created an infographic of the upcoming 15km test flight of SpaceX's Starship SN8 test vehicle, considering the information publicly available and the observations by fan community at SpaceX's test facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

You can download the infographic in its original resolution here.

Here is his poster of Starship SN8 during lift-off and when performing its "skydiver" belly flop maneuver:

You can download the poster in its original resolution here.

SpaceX Starship Super Heavy launching from sea platform by Roger Bootsma

Austrian 3D environment artist Roger Bootsma has created his vision of SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy launching from sea launch/landing platform. More of his art here. When operational Starship Super Heavies will most likely launch from sea platforms or unpopulated remote locations because of the high noise level during the lift-offs which requires ~30km exclusion zone around the launch site.

Mars exploration caravan at a giant spaceship wreck by Wayne Haag

Picture of the Day 27/10/2020 - Oil painting of Mars exploration caravan at a giant spaceship wreck by Australian concept artist Wayne Haag. More of his art here.

Mars ascent vehicle concept by Alex Nice

Concept of a Mars ascent vehicle by American art director / illustrator Alex Nice. It was created for Hulu's drama TV series "The First". The slow-paced, character oriented TV show was cancelled after season 1 even before reaching Mars.

Mars exploration rover by Maciej Rebisz

Picture of the Day 21/10/2020 - International Mars exploration rover by Polish concept artist, currently working as senior concept artist for game developer CD PROJEKT RED (The Witcher game series, Cyberpunk 2077), Maciej Rebisz. More of his art here.

Renders of SpaceX Starship SN8 launch, landing and mid-flight by Bart Caldwell

American space artist Bart Caldwell, known on Twitter as Neopork, recently has created some of the best and most detailed renders of SpaceX's Starship. His renders looks almost as actual photos. Here are his renders of Starship SN8 test vehicle in launch, landing and mid-flight configuration in the sky above Boca Chica, Texas.

The first two are created as mobile wallpapers. You can download them in even higher resolution here.

Lunar colony in season 5 trailer of The Expanse

A few days ago the season 5 trailer for The Expanse was released - a political sci-fi series set a few centuries in the future, where humans have colonized the entire Solar system. Mars, one of three competing forces in the universe of The Expanse, was in the spotlight in season 4 of the show. It now seems it is the Moon's (Luna's) turn, which is under the jurisdiction of the United Nations (based on Earth) in the universe of The Expanse. There are several scenes depicting a Lunar colony (Lovell City) in the season 5 trailer:

Cargo ship descending to the Moon:

There is only one scene set on Mars in the trailer:

SpaceX Starship SN8 belly flop maneuver by Bart Caldwell

Picture of the Day 10/10/2020 - SpaceX's Starship SN8 test vehicle performing its "skydiver" belly flop maneuver in the sky above Boca Chica, Texas by American space artist Bart Caldwell, known on Twitter as Neopork. The render is so detailed that it looks almost as an actual photo!

SpaceX Starship at NASA Artemis Base Camp by ICON

NASA has announced it is working with Texas-based 3D printed construction startup ICON "on early research and development of a space-based construction system that could support future exploration of the Moon and Mars. The company has 3D printed communities of homes and structures on Earth and participated in NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, demonstrating a construction method and technologies that may be adaptable for applications beyond our home planet." Both NASA and US Air Force have invested in company's technologies via Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.

NASA is working, via its Artemis program, to establish a long-term human presence on and around the Moon by the end of the 2020s. Construction and expansion of Artemis Base Camp will require extensive use of lunar resources, including water ice (for life support and rocket fuel) and moon dirt (for building materials).

To accomplish goals of the SBIR contract ICON has teamed up with space design studio SEArch+ and Danish architecture firm BIG in Project Olympus to develop robotic construction concept for NASA's Artemis Base Camp. Here are several conceptual illustrations from the project.

First one depicts a spaceport featuring several 3D printed landing pads and roads, SpaceX's Starship in one of the pads and Blue Origin's Lunar lander with ICON's 3D printer landing in another:

Closeup of illustration's central part:

Here are illustrations of 3D printed habitats:

Underground oasis in a Martian lava tube

Shane Powers (USA) & Linjie Wang (China) have created a design of an artificial underground oasis in a Martian lava tube for Marstopia international design contest held by Eleven Magazine. Their design named "Below Freezing" won the "honourable mention" award in the contest. Its main feature, besides utilizing natural lava tubes, is a vertical transportation system (surrounded by 3D-printed ice walls) to Mars's surface. Martian lava tubes could become very handy in creating large, radiation-protected spaces for future human colonists on Mars.

SpaceX Mars Base Alpha concept by Sotiris

Here is a concept of SpaceX's early Mars Base Alpha by Twitter user Sotiris. The concept features a pair of crew Starships with Falcon 9 style landing legs, several pressurized Mars Cybertrucks, The Boring Company's tunnel boring machine and 3-level habitation modules derived from used Starship propellant tanks and connected in pairs (a questionable idea, we think).

Cutaway of the habitation module: