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.