Human colony on the Moon

Picture of the Day 30/9/2019 - Supplied by regular SpaceX's Starship flights, Moon Base Alpha has grown into a large human colony with dome-shaped habitat complexes in the center, surrounded in semi-circle by industrial area and solar array - a closeup from the Lunar colony render in Elon Musk's recent Starship update presentation.

SpaceX Starship launching from Mars Base Alpha

In yesterdays SpaceX's Starship update Elon Musk teased a new concept image of Starship launching from Mars Base Alpha (1st image). The new design of the Starship was also included into an older concept image of Mars Base Alpha and posted on SpaceX's Twitter account (2nd image). Open link in new tab to view image in full resolution.

Slides from SpaceX Starship 2019 update presentation by Elon Musk

Today SpaceX CEO and lead designer Elon Musk provided an update of SpaceX's Starship design. Here are slides and animations from his presentation (open link in new tab to view image in full resolution).

Basic info about the new Starship:

Layout of Starship Raptor engines:

Super Heavy booster layout:

Starship comparison with Starhopper and Millennium Falcon:

SpaceX Starship old design vs. the new one by Kimi Talvitie

Following the development of SpaceX's Starship Mk 1 prototype at company's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, Finnish 3D artist Kimi Talvitie has made a model comparison of Starship's old 3 fin/leg design (on left) vs. the possible new one with 2 rear fins and 6 separate landing legs (on right). More of Kimi's art on his Twitter account.

Elon Musk will present Starship's new design on September 28 at Boca Chica.

He has also made an animation of the possible new design:

Boy watching a rocket launch from Mars by Arthur Gore

Picture of the Day 25/9/2019 - young boy watching a SpaceX's Starship-style rocket launching from Mars by Latvian concept artist Arthur Gore. More of his art here.

Possible SpaceX Starship Mk 1 propellant tank layout by Michel Lamontagne

SpaceX's Starship Mk 1 prototype, being built at company's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, is seeing some rapid development in recent days (prior to Elon Musk's promised update on September 28). New hardware is being attached to the prototype and we can start some educated guesses of the final Starship Mk 1 design which will differ quite substantially from the Starship renders SpaceX provided as recently as in May.

Canadian design engineer Michel Lamontagne has posted his speculative graphics of the possible Starship Mk 1 propellant tank and fin layout on NASASpaceFlight.com forum (where he is known as lamontagne). More of his spaceship renderings here.

Images from the construction site indicate the header tanks (meant for propellant needed for landing) are installed into the front cone of Starship Mk 1:

SpaceX Starship over Mars by Mack Crawford

Digital artist Mack Crawford (brickmack), known for his stunning rocket animations, has made his last render of SpaceX's TinTin-style Starship (flying with deployed solar panels over Mars) as it seems the actual Starship built in Texas & Florida and waiting to be presented by Elon Musk on September 28 will have different shape. More of Mack's space concept art here.

Possible cover for SpaceX Starship Mk 1 flap hinges spotted

Seeing most recent hardware delivered at SpaceX's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, where the Starship Mk 1 prototype is being built, Reddit user u/avibat is speculating that the new hardware is stainless steel cover for Starship's fin hinges to protect them during re-entry into atmosphere. One of the hinges has already been attached to the main body of Starship (spotted by BocaChicaGal from NASASpaceFlight.com forum) and right now they are attaching the fin to it (the process can be watched online through LabPadre's 24/7 live stream).

Fin hinge Pipe attached to one side of Starship Mk 1 (photo by BocaChicaGal):

Attaching first fin to SpaceX's Starship Mk1 (photo by BocaChicaGal):

Future city on terraformed Mars by Julian Faylona

Picture of the Day 19/9/2019 - City consisting of several independent and self-sustaining "hives" on terraformed Mars in a far future by digital artist Julian Faylona. More of his art here.

New cinematic trailer for Occupy Mars simulation game released

The Martian frontier is yours in Occupy Mars - the upcoming (as of today: Coming soon) highly technical open world simulation game about Mars colonization from Polish indie game developer Pyramid Games. In the game you will be able to "build and upgrade your base, discover new amazing regions, conduct mining operations, retrieve water and generate oxygen, grow crops, fix broken parts, learn how to survive on Mars!"

Here is the newest cinematic trailer of the game and beautiful HD images from it. Note the SpaceX's Starman style spacesuit and ITS v2016 Starship.

SpaceX ITS v2016 Starship landing at Mars base:

Assembling Mars base module by module:

Astronaut planting a tree in Mars biodome:

Mars base layout: