SpaceX Starship orbital flight test 2 - infographic by Tony Bela (updated)

Australian space illustrator Tony Bela has created an infographic of the upcoming 2nd integrated flight test of SpaceX's Starship rocket (booster B09, ship S25) on Saturday, November 18 Friday, November 17 (a 20 minute launch window opens at 7:00 a.m. CT pending final regulatory approval) from Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX: "Starship’s first flight test [on April 20] provided numerous lessons learned that directly contributed to several upgrades to both the vehicle and ground infrastructure to improve the probability of success on future flights. The second flight test will debut a hot-stage separation system and a new electronic Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system for Super Heavy Raptor engines, in addition to reinforcements to the pad foundation and a water-cooled steel flame deflector, among many other enhancements."

Breakdown of Tony's infographic into phases:

Building a new civilization on Mars in "For All Mankind" season 4

Yesterday Apple TV+ released yet another video revealing more details about the upcoming season 4 of For All Mankind alternate history sci-fi TV series. As the co-creator of the series Ben Nedivi states in this featurette: "This season is really about the building of a new civilization on Mars. Last year in season 3 you saw the first explorers arrive on Mars. This season you're actually seeing hundreds of people up there and you're seeing, how civilization becomes civilization".

Judging from the reviews by journalists who were given early access to the first 7 episodes of season 4, this season might be the show's most exciting season yet. We look forward to judging it for ourselves. Season 4 premieres November 10 on Apple TV+, with episodes releasing weekly.



Some of the details for season 4 were previously revealed in a teaser and a trailer.

For All Mankind is exploring the idea of never ending space race if Soviets would have beaten US in the race for the Moon and the intention of the show is each season to jump about a decade further into the increasingly diverging reality of the show: in season 1, depicting alternate 1969 to 1974, both Soviets and US start building their separate bases near the lunar South pole; in season 2 (1983) both bases have been expanded and the superpowers compete for resources on the Lunar surface; in season 3 (1992 to 1995), Soviets and US are joined by a private company Helios and North Korea for a four way race to establish the first human base on Mars.

Here are some HD images from the featurette above.

Happy Valley base on Mars:

Ceres, the capital of the Belt, in "The Expanse" TV series

Ceres, located in the Main Asteroid Belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, is the largest known asteroid (~940km in diameter) and the only dwarf planet in the Inner Solar system. In the universe of The Expanse TV series (a political sci-fi drama set in mid-24th century when humans have colonized the entire Solar system) Ceres acts as the de facto capital for the Belt - one of the three competing powers in The Expanse, along with the United Nations (based on Earth) and Mars.

Ceres naturally has a gravity of 0.029g (2,9% of the gravity force on Earth), but in the universe of The Expanse it has been artificially spun up to 0.3g of centrifugal force (so the "gravity" points in the opposite direction, not towards the center of the planet). There is a population of around 6 million in Ceres Station which consists of tens of thousands of kilometers of tunnels bored deep into Ceres. Ceres Station is the most important spaceport in the Belt, 800 to 1'000 ships are docked on Ceres every day, so along with the 6 million permanent residents there are an extra one million transiting through at any given time. Ceres Station was initially governed by the United Nations, but during season 1 of the show Outer Planets Alliance (OPA, a fractured sociopolitical movement trying to unite the Belt) takes control.

The life on Ceres is depicted in season 1 and season 6 of The Expanse. Here you can view some of the best shots from locations on Ceres Station (part of them downscaled from 4K UHD screens for better image quality) as well as some concept art for Ceres:

Mid-town Ceres Station:

Ceres Station docks on the surface of Ceres:

Administrative Plaza of Ceres:

Concept art for The Medina level on Ceres by North Front Studio:

International Mars Orbital Station - Part 2 of Martian sketches by Andrey Maximov

Environment concept artist Andrey Maximov from Armenia has created an impressive set of artworks called Martian sketches depicting a "routine" journey to Mars in 2089. So far he has published 25 pages of those sketches. As the artist describes them: "this series is kind of like the road sketches of a member of an expedition to Mars. It's a routine flight in the not-too-distant future. The planet is more or less inhabited. We have an orbital station around Mars. There are already several settlements on the surface, mining is going on."

1st part (10 sketches) of Andrey's Martian sketches depicted the expedition leaving Earth.

Here is 2nd part (5 sketches) depicting expedition's arrival to International Mars Orbital Station:

Asteroid mining will play a major role in "For All Mankind" season 4

Yesterday Apple TV+ published a yet unlisted trailer for season 4 of For All Mankind alternate history sci-fi TV series, revealing asteroid mining will play a major role in season 4, set in 2003. The trailer also revealed more details about the soon-to-be "self-sustaining" international Happy Valley base on Mars, first depicted in the first teaser for season 4 a month ago.

For All Mankind is exploring the idea of never ending space race if Soviets would have beaten US in the race for the Moon and the intention of the show is each season to jump about a decade further into the increasingly diverging reality of the show: in season 1, depicting alternate 1969 to 1974, both Soviets and US start building their separate bases near the lunar South pole; in season 2 (1983) both bases have been expanded and the superpowers compete for resources on the Lunar surface; in season 3 (1992 to 1995), Soviets and US are joined by a private company Helios and North Korea for a four way race to establish the first human base on Mars. Season 4 will start airing on November 10 on Apple TV+ and will depict the alternate 2003.

Here you can watch the trailer and see some HD images from it:

Happy Valley base on Mars:

Colonized Mars - Martian city lights from space

How would a colonized Mars appear from space? Here is a FHD wallpaper with lights of two large cities on Mars as they would be seen from space; created by an uncredited artist for the Mars City Design platform:

Farewell Earth! - Part 1 of Martian sketches by Andrey Maximov

Environment concept artist Andrey Maximov from Armenia has created an impressive set of artworks called Martian sketches depicting a "routine" journey to Mars in 2089. So far he has published 25 pages of those sketches. As the artist describes them: "this series is kind of like the road sketches of a member of an expedition to Mars. It's a routine flight in the not-too-distant future. The planet is more or less inhabited. We have an orbital station around Mars. There are already several settlements on the surface, mining is going on."

Here are the first 10 of Andrey's Martian sketches depicting the expedition leaving Earth.

GAIA Spaceport on Earth:

SpaceX Starship orbiting terraformed Mars by Erik Corshammar

Picture of the Day 22/09/2023 - SpaceX Starship orbiting partially terraformed Mars by Swedish space designer Erik Corshammar (Erc X). More of his art here.

"For All Mankind" season 4 reveals a sprawling first human base on Mars

On September 13 Apple TV+ released the first teaser for season 4 of For All Mankind alternate history sci-fi TV series. The teaser is made in the form of a recruitment ad for Helios Aerospace and reveals in season 4 of the show the company acts as a private operator and transport provider for the international Happy Valley base on Mars. Quite a resemblance to SpaceX in our reality 😉

For All Mankind is exploring the idea of never ending space race if Soviets would have beaten US in the race for the Moon and the intention of the show is each season to jump about a decade further into the increasingly diverging reality of the show: in season 1, depicting alternate 1969 to 1974, both Soviets and US start building their separate bases near the lunar South pole; in season 2 (1983) both bases have been expanded and the superpowers compete for resources on the Lunar surface; in season 3 (1992 to 1995), Soviets and US are joined by a private company Helios and North Korea for a four way race to establish the first human base on Mars. Season 4 will start airing on November 10 on Apple TV+ and will depict the alternate 2003 or so.

Here you can watch the teaser and see some HD images from it:

Helios recruitment posters:

Happy Valley Base overview:

Industrial complex on Mars by Antarik Fox

Picture of the Day 03/09/2023 - AI generated image by Antarik Fox of an industrial complex on Mars.