Mars base concept by Wojtek Fikus for Marsception 2018 competition

Marsception 2018 was an architectural competition by Volume Zero "to envision a habitat for the first five colonists on the Red Planet where they would research on the viability of life for the future human generations". The 2nd place in the competition was won by the team of Polish architectural designer Wojtek Fikus (Wojciech Fikus) & Space is More. Their concept of the habitat was "modular structure made from triangular, inflatable wall cells connected together with internal life support system, based on microbiological water environment".

Top view of the base:

Infographic about the concept:

SpaceX. Raising the bar!

"Do it", as Elon Musk bluntly replied to the bragging of Boeing's CEO about "beating Elon Musk to Mars" 😁

These days SpaceX is the leading NewSpace company developing innovative and cost-effective rocket/space technologies and beating all the "space dinosaurs" in the field. Its ultimate goal is to colonize Mars. In the spirit of this reality Instagram user starjet_pilot has made this retro style poster (recalling the iconic photography of US soldiers raising the flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal) of starmen raising the flag of SpaceX on Mars with the Starship in the background.

New official renders of SpaceX Starship on the Moon & at Mars Base Alpha

Today Elon Musk revealed on his Twitter two more renders of SpaceX's Starship on the Moon and at Mars Base Alpha:

1 million human colony city on Mars by Max Rymsha

On 2017 HP announced the "Mars Home Planet" rendering challenge inviting participants "to imagine, create and virtually experience a sophisticated civilization on Mars. A new home for one million humans." Swedish architect and CG artist Max Rymsha was one of the winners of the challenge creating his concept "Between The Red Mountains" for a sustainable city on Mars for 1 million humans. His inspiring vision includes several large-scale biodomes, SpaceX's Starships (in their 2016 design) for Earth-Mars transportation, hyperloop lines for intercity transportation, electric rovers and quadcopters for local transportation, laboratories of NASA, etc.; most of the city (not shown in the illustration) is underground for better radiation and asteroid protection.

Infographic version with annotations:

China's C-Space Mars simulation base in Gobi desert

On April 17, 2019 China opened it's second Mars simulation base - C-Space Project, located in the Gobi Desert 40km from Jinchang, northwest Gansu Province. Its aim is to educate and provide an environment for youths and tourists to experience life on Mars. The facility consists of several interconnected modules including a domed greenhouse, living quarters, a control room and a mock decompression chamber. It is developed by a private company C-Space and will be heavily focused on tourism, with additional investment and development of the surrounding area hoping to attract two million visitors a year by 2030.

Apparently China has serious plans to inspire its population about human colonization of Mars, as only a month ago it opened its first Mars simulation base - Mars Camp, located in a high-altitude desert - the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province.

Here is a collection of photos from the base by Reuters, AFP, EPA & East News:

3D-printed Mars base by Hassell & EOC

Design studio Hassell and structural engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan (EOC) is one of the 10 finalist teams in phase 3 (virtual model stage) of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge for Mars. Both companies partnered to design a shell, which could be constructed entirely by autonomous robots using Mars’ natural regolith, to protect the astronauts from the radiation, as well as micrometeorite strikes. The human-centric design was made with an approach that moves beyond the idea of astronauts as purely operators, to create a habitat where people can not only survive life on Mars, but really thrive there. The concept is well explained in this video, which forms part of the final submission and was made in collaboration with the "LightField London":



Conceptual design images for the project:

SpaceX Starship on launch pad by William Falconer-Beach

Picture of the Day 16/4/2019 - SpaceX's stainless steel Starship on launch pad by William Falconer-Beach. More of his Starship renders here.

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.

(Open link in new tab to view ⇩ in full resolution)

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.

New official renders of SpaceX Starship landing at Mars Base Alpha

Today Elon Musk visited Doyle Ryder Elementary school in Flint, Michigan and demonstrated a new video of SpaceX's Starship. Here are some render images from that presentation with Starship landing at Mars Base Alpha. Forgive the poor quality of the images as they were captured by a camera; we will definitely get better quality official renders in the future.

Development phases of SpaceX Starship by Colin Doublier

Sketch of the development phases of SpaceX's Starship by French urban artist Colin Doublier. More of his art here.

SpaceX #dearMoon Starship orbiting the Moon by Gravitation Innovation

Picture of the Day 19/3/2019 - SpaceX #dearMoon Starship orbiting the Moon by Gravitation Innovation.

Poster of SpaceX Starman "Mars. Mission Dragon"

Poster of SpaceX's Starman "Mars. Mission Dragon" by Instagram user starjet_pilot.

JAXA lunar rover by Toyota for missions starting in 2029

On March 12 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota announced they will jointly develop a manned, pressurized lunar rover that uses fuel cell electric vehicle technologies for JAXA's planned manned missions to explore five different locations near the Moon's southern pole between 2029 and 2034. The lunar rover would have a room for two astronauts on a missions up to 42 days and a total lunar-surface cruising range of more than 10'000 kilometers.

Here are concept images and animation for the rover:

Animation of the deployment of the rover:

SpaceX Starship at launch pad by Gravitation Innovation

Impressive concept images of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship at launch pad by Gravitation Innovation.

China's Mars Camp in Qaidam Basin, Qinghai Province

On March 1, 2019 China opened its first Mars analog research station - Mars Camp, located in a cold high-altitude desert - the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province. It's already the most ambitious Mars simulation station built, costing about $22 million. Covering an area of 53,330 square meters, the base can accommodate 60 people in its capsules and hundreds in the base's tents.

"The red rock area in the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai has been called the most "Martian" place on Earth, with its natural features, landscape and climate all similar to those on the red planet, said Gao Junling, the project founder. The temperatures here vary greatly between day and night, similar to those on Mars, according to Gao. He said that participants could immerse themselves in the environment and try to solve problems they might face on Mars, such as planting potatoes on Mars for food supply and solar power generation."

As information in Western media about this base is quite scarce and photos even scarcer we collected all the best photos here. Most of them are from this blog post (in Chinese).

Mars truck by Pat Presley

Picture of the Day 10/3/2019 - Mars truck by American concept artist Pat Presley. More of his art here.

The truck on the move, accompanied by a pair of speeders:

Dawn of a new Space Age

Photo of SpaceX's Starhopper at sunset by Jaime Almaguer. The Starhopper (test vehicle of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship) is currently being built in SpaceX's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas and scheduled to fly first test flights in March/April 2019.

D-Mars mission habitat in southern Israel

Astronauts returning to D-Mars mission habitat in southern Israel; photo by Niamh Shaw. D-Mars (Desert Mars Analog Ramon Station) is Israel's 1st Mars analog research station similar to Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, US where astronauts, scientists and space enthusiasts can train for future human missions to Mars.

The station is located in a desolate area in Israel’s Negev Desert near the 200 million-year-old, 25-mile-wide Ramon Crater. Although not an impact crater, but a rare form of erosion structures, it has a resemblance to a variety of terrain types relevant to Mars exploration. The surrounding area hosts many similarities to the Martian environment in its geology, aridity and isolation.

Mars colony city by Bill Wright

Picture of the Day 6/3/2019 - Mars colony city under a dome by American retro space artist Bill Wright. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship at Mars Base Alpha by Gravitation Innovation

Picture of the Day 3/3/2019 - SpaceX's stainless steel Starship, Starman and Tesla Roadster at Mars Base Alpha by Gravitation Innovation.

SpaceX Starship on a landing pad on Mars by Charlie Burgess

Picture of the Day 28/2/2019 - SpaceX's stainless steel Starship on a landing pad on Mars by British digital artist Charlie Burgess. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship docking to Von Braun Rotating Space Station

Several renders by architect Tim Alatorre (from Domum Architects) of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship docking to Gateway Foundation's proposed Von Braun Rotating Space Station (precursor to its more ambitious Gateway Spaceport) with artificial spin gravity.

Possibly official render of SpaceX stainless steel Starship during Mars entry

Yesterday Elon Musk gave an exclusive interview to Popular Mechanics. The interview is illustrated with several images, one of which is a fresh render of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship during Mars entry. The author of the render is stated to be "SpaceX" (as one more earlier official render from SpaceX).

SpaceX explorers digging out Opportunity by Leonhard Loacker

Picture of the Day 25/2/2019 - Drawing of future SpaceX explorers digging out NASA's Opportunity rover on Mars by young Austrian artist Leonhard Loacker. More of his art on his Instagram profile.

Mars biodome by Simon Klinz

Picture of the Day 23/2/2019 - Working day in a biodome on Mars - a loading screen for Memories of Mars by German video game artist Simon Klinz. Memories of Mars is an open world survival game where you have to craft, build and fight for your survival. The game is set 100 years in the future among abandoned mining operations on the red planet and currently is in early access on Steam. More of Simon's game art here.

(Open link in new tab to view ⇩ in HD wallpaper resolution)

Renders of SpaceX Starship & Super Heavy by Charlie Burgess

British digital artist Charlie Burgess has created several render images of SpaceX's full stack Starship & Super Heavy. More of his art here. Open link in new tab to view images in full resolution.