Cutaway diagram of SpaceX Starship

Unofficial cutaway diagram (in German, look for text translation in English here) of SpaceX's Starship by German illustrator Julian Schindler. More of his art here. Starship & Super Heavy is a fully reusable two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle and spacecraft currently developed by leading NewSpace company SpaceX. On August 24 mid-September SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk will make a presentation of the current status of Starship development.

SpaceX stainless steel Starship prototype by Owen Egan

Concept render of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship prototype by British graphic designer Owen Egan (known on NASASpaceFlight.com forum as "tea monster"). More of his art here.

SpaceX has already built the first prototype Starship test vehicle (Starhopper) without any nose cone at its Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, mated it with a single Raptor engine and conducted several hop test. Starhopper lifted up for about 20 meters in the last test. Simultaneously SpaceX is already building two next generation test vehicles – Starship Mk 1 in Boca Chica and Starship Mk 2 in Cocoa, Florida. Mk 1 will fly up to an altitude of 20 kilometers in a few months.

Leaving the cradle - incredible trailer of TerraGenesis

The latest trailer of TerraGenesis mobile game made by famous YouTuber MelodySheep is just stunning, reminding the vibes of The Expanse TV series. TerraGenesis is a popular mobile terraforming simulator game where you can establish a colony and gradually terraform other planetary bodies in Solar System.



Here are some images from the trailer:

Mission to Phobos by Ludovic Celle

Picture of the Day 30/7/2019 - Spacecraft approaching the largest and closest of the two [asteroid size] Martian moons - Phobos - by French graphic artist Ludovic Celle. More of his Mars art here.

Next phase of SpaceX Starship test program - sketch by Colin Doublier

Last night SpaceX's Starship test vehicle - the Starhopper - performed its first untethered hop about 20m high. In 2 weeks Starhopper will perform a much higher hop of about 200m, but in a few months the Starship test program will move to the next phase - flights as high as 20 km. For it SpaceX is already simultaneously building two Starship prototypes in Boca Chica, Texas and Cocoa, Florida - Starship Mk 1 & Starship Mk 2 respectively. Those prototypes initially will have three Raptor engines (Starhopper has only one).

Here is a sketch of Starship Mk 1 lifting up by French urban artist Colin Doublier. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship in high Lunar orbit by William Falconer-Beach

Picture of the Day 24/7/2019 - SpaceX's Starship in high Lunar orbit by William Falconer-Beach. More of his Starship renders here.

Hydroponic greenhouse in Lunar colony by Erik van Helvoirt

Continuing our Lunar week, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 Moon landing, here is an artwork of a hydroponic greenhouse in Lunar colony by Dutch concept artist Erik van Helvoirt. More of his art here.

SpaceX #dearMoon Starship orbiting the Moon

Official renders of SpaceX #dearMoon Starship orbiting the Moon from #dearMoon Instagram profile.

Artist flying in zero-G inside the Starship:

60 year challenge for humanity: 1969 - Moon, 2029 - Mars

Today 50 years ago first humans - 2 out of 3 Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin - landed on the Moon. But since then the advancement of human space exploration has been slow. It changed only in recent years with the rise of private space companies, especially SpaceX with its determined focus on rocket reusability and colonization of Mars. Now we have a real chance to land first humans on Mars as soon as 10 years from now, maybe even sooner.

Mars colony by Mauricio Pampin

Picture of the Day 19/7/2019 - Mars colony with several interconnected geodesic domes by Canadian concept artist Mauricio Pampin. More of his art here.

HD quality official renders of SpaceX Starship at Mars Base Alpha and on the Moon

In April Elon Musk on his Twitter profile teased two new renders with SpaceX's Starship on the Moon and at Mars Base Alpha. Unfortunately those were low resolution images. Now we have a HD resolution versions (press Open link in new tab to view) of those renders from SpaceX's Principal Mars Development Engineer Paul Wooster's presentation at Humans to Mars summit 2019 organized by Explore Mars.

Saturn V and SpaceX Starship at launch pad by Gravitation Innovation

Today 50 years ago the most powerful rocket ever built - Saturn V - launched first astronauts to set foot on the Moon. But right now the leading NewSpace company SpaceX is building even more powerful rocket for Mars - Starship & Super Heavy. SpaceX is hoping it to be operational in 2021.

Here is a poster by Gravitation Innovation with Saturn V and SpaceX Starship at launch pad. Note the Starship is at front so it appears a lot bigger than Saturn V at back. In reality the difference in height is minimal with Saturn V being 111 m high and Starship & Super Heavy at 118 m by current design which is subject to change.

Mars rover returning to lander by Jaroslaw Marcinek

Picture of the Day 13/7/2019 - Mars rover returning to a lander by Polish freelance illustrator Jaroslaw Marcinek. More of his art here.

Nazi Moon base by Darren Tan

Singaporean freelance illustrator Darren Tan visualizing the conspiracy theory of a secret Nazi base on the far side of the Moon.

This alternate history science fiction myth was somewhat started by Rocket Ship Galileo, a 1947 young adult novel by Robert Heinlein, which features three teenagers who travel to the Moon and discover a secret Nazi base. Since then the "secret Nazi Moon base" cultural myth has been used in fiction frequently, including The Man in the High Castle novel (1962) by Philip K. Dick (and its recent TV series adaptation), Iron Sky movie (2012) and Wolfenstein: The New Order video game (2014). We should remember that Von Braun's V-2 rocket was the first man made object reaching outer space in June, 1944, and it was the base for both US and Soviet space programs. So the myth had some logical grounds.

Building an industrial complex on Mars by William Black

To survive on Mars longterm humans will need to live off the land (a practice in space exploration called In Situ Resource Utilization or shorter ISRU), so we will need to extract, process and store local resources of the planet. Here is William Black's artistic vision of building an industrial complex on Mars at Syria Planum, located south from Noctis Labyrinthus. More of his space concept art here.

Mars colony in artificial, domed canyon

Picture of the Day 4/7/2019 - design of what could be a human colony in a narrow, artificial, domed canyon on Mars by LAVA architects. This image was done for a design of Masdar City (next to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) - a futuristic sustainable city project in development and intended to be a hub for cleantech companies.

Mars Ice Home concept by NASA, SEArch+ & Clouds AO

Mars Ice Home is a feasibility study conducted at NASA Langley Research Center in 2016 in collaboration with human-centered space design studio SEArch+ and architects from CloudsAO. Responding to the problem of galactic cosmic radiation being the most significant issue for human health on long duration Mars surface missions, the concept incorporates in situ resource utilization derived water-ice for radiation shielding and as a structural component.

Water, a hydrogen-rich material, is an excellent shielding material for galactic cosmic rays – and many areas of Mars have abundant water ice just below the surface. The Ice Home concept balances the need to provide protection from radiation, without the drawbacks of an underground habitat. The design maximizes the thickness of ice above the crew quarters to reduce radiation exposure while also still allowing light to pass through ice and surrounding materials. The water-ice fills and freezes within cellular pockets of the precision-manufactured inflatable membrane. The interior of the habitat would be insulated from the ice with a cellular layer of carbon dioxide, which can easily be extracted from the Martian atmosphere.

3D-printed Mars habitat MARSHA by AI SpaceFactory

Architectural and technology design agency AI SpaceFactory is the team that won NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge for Mars. Their design "MARSHA" of an egg-shaped, dual shell habitat is a principal rethinking of what a Martian habitat could be - not another low-lying dome or confined, half-buried structure but a bright, multi-level, corridor-free home that stands upright on the surface of Mars.

Here are some impressive conceptual design images for the project:

NatGeo's MARS TV series: drama part of full season 2

Most of the criticism against National Geographic Channel's MARS TV series is related to the concept of joining drama with documentary. In a result the viewer can't fully enjoy any of the two parts without interruptions from the other part every few minutes. So here you can watch only the drama part of full season 2 of the show without documentary cut-ins.

In season 1 the series depicted first human mission to Mars and hardships of building a base on Mars in a lava tube. Season 2 is digging deeper into the challenges of life on Mars, covering everything from the first Martian-born baby to surviving the common cold to the first commercial efforts by Lukrum Corporation to exploit the planet's resources.

Watch full episodes of the show here:

• Season 1
• Season 2

ESA's base on Mars by Martin Kornmesser

Picture of the Day 25/6/2019 - Concept image of European Space Agency's (ESA) base on Mars by German graphic designer Martin Kornmesser.

Mars exploration rover by Sergii Golotovskiy

Picture of the Day 21/6/2019 - Mars exploration rover in a sandstorm by Polish concept artist Sergii Golotovskiy. More of his art here.

Mars colony concept by Dmitry Azarov for National Geographic's MARS TV series

Russian 3D artist Dmitry Azarov has made some concept renders of human colony on Mars for National Geographic's "MARS" TV series (season 3 ?). More of his art here.

Mars exploration rover and drones by Paul Canavan

Picture of the Day 16/6/2019 - Painting of Mars exploration rover and drones by British fantasy artist Paul Canavan. More of his art here.

Underground atrium on Mars by Vincent Callebaut

Picture of the Day 10/6/2019 - design of what could be an interior view of an underground atrium on Mars by French eco architect Vincent Callebaut. This image was done for a design project "Wooden Orchids" of an eco-responsible shopping mall in Ruichang, China.

Human colony on Mars for Buzz Aldrin's "Welcome to Mars" book

Impressive cover art of human colony on Mars with several domes and parks for "Welcome to Mars: Making a Home on the Red Planet" book for kids. It was written by Marianne J. Dyson and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin (2nd on the Moon) and published in 2015 by National Geographic Children's Books.

SpaceX Starship at Moon Base Alpha by Sam Taylor

Picture of the Day 3/6/2019 - Poster of a dozen starmen (with white&black suits) & starwomen (with white&pink suits) working around SpaceX's Starship at Moon Base Alpha by digital artist Sam Taylor. More of his art here.

New engine bay of SpaceX Starship by Kimi Talvitie

Finnish 3D artist Kimi Talvitie has made a model of possible new configuration of SpaceX's Starship engine bay with 3 vacuum optimized Raptors and 3 sea level optimized Raptors (news recently revealed by Elon Musk). More of Kimi's art on his Twitter account.

Mars base by Sergge Dobrovolski

Picture of the Day 31/5/2019 - Mars base by Russian photographer and fantasy artist Sergge Dobrovolski.
More of his art here.

Mars base laboratory interior by Douglas Shrock

Picture of the Day 25/5/2019 - Digital painting of a female scientist at Mars base laboratory watching the arrival of a lander by American sci-fi artist Douglas Shrock (Shrox). More of his Mars art here.

SpaceX Super Heavy Starship with additional two side boosters

SpaceX's Super Heavy Starship version with additional two side boosters (a configuration like that of Falcon Heavy). This was put together by Reddit user LargeMonty from the Starship renders by Finnish 3D artist Kimi Talvitie.

Mars colony by Space is More & Project Scorpio for Mars Colony Prize contest

This year The Mars Society is holding Mars Colony Prize - a contest for "the best plan for a Mars colony of 1000 people. The colony should be self-supporting to the maximum extent possible - i.e. relying on a minimum mass of imports from Earth. The goal is to have the colony be able to produce all the food, clothing, shelter, power, common consumer products, vehicles, and machines for 1000 people, with only the minimum number of key components, such as advanced electronics needing to be imported from Earth." Submissions for the contest are now closed and the winners will be chosen at the International Mars Society convention in Los Angeles, California in September 2019.

Here are images from the submission by the Polish team of Space is More & Project Scorpio.

SpaceX Super Heavy Starship launching from Earth

Picture of the Day 15/5/2019 - Render of SpaceX's Super Heavy Starship launching from Earth by Reddit user Leonidass.

Green Marsopolis by Annibale Siconolfi (Inward)

Cityscape of green Marsopolis with parks and large biodomes - a city on Mars in a far future by Italian futuristic 3D artist Annibale Siconolfi (Inward). More of his art here.

He has made also a different version - a bit depressing industrial Red Marsopolis.

Red Marsopolis by Annibale Siconolfi (Inward)

Cityscape of red, industrial Marsopolis - a city on Mars in a far future by Italian futuristic 3D artist Annibale Siconolfi (Inward). More of his art here.

He has made also a different version - Green Marsopolis with parks and large biodomes.

SpaceX Super Heavy cargo Starship by Mack Crawford

Picture of the Day 11/5/2019 - Launch of SpaceX's full stack cargo Starship & Super Heavy by digital artist Mack Crawford (brickmack). More of his space concept art here.

Shiny SpaceX Starship renders by Sam Taylor

Digital artist Sam Taylor has created a pair of shiny render images of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship in space. More of his art here.