New official renders of Lockheed Martin's Lunar lander

American aerospace, advanced technologies and defense company Lockheed Martin has published two new renders of its Lunar lander. The lander seems to be scaled down a little if compared to the concept published last year. The purpose of the two-stage lander would be to ship 4 astronauts from NASA's planned Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway to the surface of the Moon and back. The ascent stage is derived from the Orion spacecraft to ensure quicker development of the lander for an accelerated human return to the Moon as early as 2024 (according to the new aspirational timeline of NASA's leadership).

On 2017 Lockheed Martin also proposed its concept for a 4-person Martian lander.

Ascent stage docked to the "Early Gateway" in Lunar orbit:

SpaceX Starship arriving to Mars

Picture of the Day 13/4/2019 - Fan version of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship (with different configuration of windows) arriving to Mars by Reddit user lmg1114.

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Map of shallow subsurface water distribution on Mars

On March 10 ESA has revealed the first results from ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter orbiting Mars since October 2016. Among the data there is the best map of shallow subsurface water distribution on Mars ever created. The map is made by orbiter's neutron detector FREND mapping the distribution of hydrogen in the uppermost metre of the planet’s surface. Hydrogen indicates the presence of water, being one of the constituents of the water molecule; it can also indicate water absorbed into the surface, or minerals that were formed in the presence of water.

• Blue areas - more water
• Orange areas - less water

SpaceX outpost on Mars by Kevin Gill

Artist's vision of an early SpaceX outpost on Mars if Red Dragon missions launched by Falcon Heavy wouldn't be cancelled and replaced by much more powerful Starship mission architecture. The image was done by software engineer Kevin Gill from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. More of his images here.

Mars colony by Alexey Shugurov

Picture of the Day 4/4/2019 - Astronaut trying to charge his ATV near a futuristic human colony on Mars by Ukrainian fantasy and space artist Alexey Shugurov. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship & Super Heavy in hangar by Charlie Burgess

SpaceX's full stack Starship & Super Heavy waiting for roll-out in a hangar by British digital artist Charlie Burgess. More of his art here.

Mars rover concept by Jort van Welbergen

Picture of the Day 31/3/2019 - Mars rover concept by Dutch concept designer Jort van Welbergen for upcoming massively multiplayer online (MMO) game Star Citizen. More of his concept art here.

Mining colony in a Martian crater by Johannes Ewers

Picture of the Day 28/3/2019 - Mining colony in a Martian crater by German digital artist Johannes Ewers. More of his art here.

Closeup of the colony:

First official HQ render of SpaceX stainless steel Starship

On the cover of Popular Mechanic’s April 2019 issue there is the first official HQ render of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship, showing the next-generation spaceship reentering Earth’s atmosphere in a blaze of glowing metal and plasma. The image was obtained by Teslarati.

A few days ago during a visit to Doyle Ryder Elementary school in Flint, Michigan, Elon Musk teased a video showing the Starship landing at Mars Base Alpha.

Forest under a dome by Artur Rosa

Picture of the Day 24/3/2019 - Forest with a lake and human colony under a dome on Mars by Portuguese digital artist Artur Rosa. More of his art here.