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: