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.

SpaceX Starship Super Heavy launching from sea platform by Roger Bootsma

Austrian 3D environment artist Roger Bootsma has created his vision of SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy launching from sea launch/landing platform. More of his art here. When operational Starship Super Heavies will most likely launch from sea platforms or unpopulated remote locations because of the high noise level during the lift-offs which requires ~30km exclusion zone around the launch site.

Mars exploration caravan at a giant spaceship wreck by Wayne Haag

Picture of the Day 27/10/2020 - Oil painting of Mars exploration caravan at a giant spaceship wreck by Australian concept artist Wayne Haag. More of his art here.

Mars ascent vehicle concept by Alex Nice

Concept of a Mars ascent vehicle by American art director / illustrator Alex Nice. It was created for Hulu's drama TV series "The First". The slow-paced, character oriented TV show was cancelled after season 1 even before reaching Mars.

Mars exploration rover by Maciej Rebisz

Picture of the Day 21/10/2020 - International Mars exploration rover by Polish concept artist, currently working as senior concept artist for game developer CD PROJEKT RED (The Witcher game series, Cyberpunk 2077), Maciej Rebisz. More of his art here.

Renders of SpaceX Starship SN8 launch, landing and mid-flight by Bart Caldwell

American space artist Bart Caldwell, known on Twitter as Neopork, recently has created some of the best and most detailed renders of SpaceX's Starship. His renders looks almost as actual photos. Here are his renders of Starship SN8 test vehicle in launch, landing and mid-flight configuration in the sky above Boca Chica, Texas.

The first two are created as mobile wallpapers. You can download them in even higher resolution here.

Lunar colony in season 5 trailer of The Expanse

A few days ago the season 5 trailer for The Expanse was released - a political sci-fi series set a few centuries in the future, where humans have colonized the entire Solar system. Mars, one of three competing forces in the universe of The Expanse, was in the spotlight in season 4 of the show. It now seems it is the Moon's (Luna's) turn, which is under the jurisdiction of the United Nations (based on Earth) in the universe of The Expanse. There are several scenes depicting a Lunar colony (Lovell City) in the season 5 trailer:

Cargo ship descending to the Moon:

There is only one scene set on Mars in the trailer:

SpaceX Starship SN8 belly flop maneuver by Bart Caldwell

Picture of the Day 10/10/2020 - SpaceX's Starship SN8 test vehicle performing its "skydiver" belly flop maneuver in the sky above Boca Chica, Texas by American space artist Bart Caldwell, known on Twitter as Neopork. The render is so detailed that it looks almost as an actual photo!

SpaceX Starship at NASA Artemis Base Camp by ICON

NASA has announced it is working with Texas-based 3D printed construction startup ICON "on early research and development of a space-based construction system that could support future exploration of the Moon and Mars. The company has 3D printed communities of homes and structures on Earth and participated in NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, demonstrating a construction method and technologies that may be adaptable for applications beyond our home planet." Both NASA and US Air Force have invested in company's technologies via Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.

NASA is working, via its Artemis program, to establish a long-term human presence on and around the Moon by the end of the 2020s. Construction and expansion of Artemis Base Camp will require extensive use of lunar resources, including water ice (for life support and rocket fuel) and moon dirt (for building materials).

To accomplish goals of the SBIR contract ICON has teamed up with space design studio SEArch+ and Danish architecture firm BIG in Project Olympus to develop robotic construction concept for NASA's Artemis Base Camp. Here are several conceptual illustrations from the project.

First one depicts a spaceport featuring several 3D printed landing pads and roads, SpaceX's Starship in one of the pads and Blue Origin's Lunar lander with ICON's 3D printer landing in another:

Closeup of illustration's central part:

Here are illustrations of 3D printed habitats:

Underground oasis in a Martian lava tube

Shane Powers (USA) & Linjie Wang (China) have created a design of an artificial underground oasis in a Martian lava tube for Marstopia international design contest held by Eleven Magazine. Their design named "Below Freezing" won the "honourable mention" award in the contest. Its main feature, besides utilizing natural lava tubes, is a vertical transportation system (surrounded by 3D-printed ice walls) to Mars's surface. Martian lava tubes could become very handy in creating large, radiation-protected spaces for future human colonists on Mars.

SpaceX Mars Base Alpha concept by Sotiris

Here is a concept of SpaceX's early Mars Base Alpha by Twitter user Sotiris. The concept features a pair of crew Starships with Falcon 9 style landing legs, several pressurized Mars Cybertrucks, The Boring Company's tunnel boring machine and 3-level habitation modules derived from used Starship propellant tanks and connected in pairs (a questionable idea, we think).

Cutaway of the habitation module:

Canteen at human colony on Mars by Ozgur Saral

Concept of a canteen interior at human colony on Mars by Turkish CG artist Ozgur Saral. More of his art here.

Full demo of the CG concept:

Total Recall (1990) concept art by Ron Cobb

Australian artist Ron Cobb has done concept art for many famous sci-fi movies, as Star Wars, Alien, Back to the Future and countless other. One of the movies he has worked on is a movie known to all Mars fans - Total Recall (1990), stared by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside and directed by Paul Verhoeven. Here are some historic concept art images created by Ron Cobb for the famous movie:

Maglev train connecting Martian colonies

Mars colony exterior

Mars shuttle

Short film: honeymoon trip to the Moon with SpaceX Starship

Two brothers from DeepSpaceCourier have created an animated short film of a newly married couple taking their honeymoon trip to the Moon with SpaceX's Starship. The short film starts with the couple boarding Starship Super Heavy at ocean launch platform; Starship is launched to the Moon and after a few days voyage docks to Lunar Gateway; there the couple switches to a Lunar Starship and lands on the surface of the Moon.

Some images from the short film in chronological order:

Mars colony on both sides of a canyon by Mondolithic Studios

Picture of the Day 5/9/2020 - Modular multi-level human colony on Mars situated on both sides of a canyon by Mondolithic Studios (Chris Wren & Kenn Brown).

Earthscrapers (inverted underground skyscrapers) could be perfect for Mars

When building on Mars you need to seriously consider measures to protect the inhabitants from cosmic radiation. You can cover your very first Martian outpost with few meters of regolith or use expensive materials with radiation blocking properties but for larger structures the obvious choice is to build underground. Lava tubes could be a solution but they are not present everywhere on Mars. So most likely you will need to dig your habitats.

One of the building types perfect for Mars could be earthscrapers (or would you call them marsscrapers on Mars?) - inverted underground skyscrapers with large vertical central void (covered with a transparent dome on the surface) for natural lighting. The living and public space is arranged in multiple levels encircling that central void. Here is an example of such structure designed by Fernando Castiñeira, Hernan Goldfarb, Alejandro Ispani, Alex Nelken, Javier Maratea & Malena Verni for 2007 Skyscraper Competition by eVolo.us

Simple diagram of the design:

Donut cafe on Mars by Natalia Babiy

As Elon Musk has said: colonizing Mars will create "an explosion of entrepreneurial opportunity because Mars will need everything from iron foundries to pizza joints to nightclubs. Mars should really have great bars". Here is a donut cafe on Mars by Ukrainian concept artist Natalia Babiy. More of her art here.

SpaceX orbital shuttle concept by Rodrigo Magro

SpaceX is developing its Starship Super Heavy two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle for interplanetary flights. But, if you would need a flight only between the surface of Mars, Moon or other similar planetary body and its orbit, you could do it by less powerful spacecraft - an orbital shuttle.

Here is a concept of such spacecraft, called SpaceX Starflight, by Spanish transportation designer Rodrigo Magro. The orbital shuttle would have a lifting-body shape with thermal shield on the windward side, two forward winglets as Starship, four lower fins with landing legs and solar panels, large panoramic window and hypergolic auxiliary engines for landing on the Moon and other smaller planetary bodies.

Amazon Prime Air deliveries on Mars

Picture of the Day 20/8/2020 - Amazon Prime Air craft delivering packages on Mars by American concept designer Dave Arredondo. More of his art here.

Domed Mars Colony by Arss Design

Picture of the Day 19/8/2020 - human colony under a dome on Mars by 3D artist Arss Design.

Silhouettes of Cybertruck and Starman on Mars

Picture of the Day 16/8/2020 - illustration with silhouettes of Tesla Cybertruck and SpaceX's Starman on Mars by French graphic artist Palma.

SpaceX Starship fleet landing on Mars - video animation by Roger Bootsma

Video animation with SpaceX's Starship fleet consisting of one crew Starship and four cargo Starships landing on Mars by Austrian 3D environment artist Roger Bootsma. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship SN5 150m hop

On August 4, 2020 SpaceX's prototype Starship SN5 successfully performed 150 meter hop with one Raptor Engine at SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.

Starship Super Heavy is a fully reusable two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle and spacecraft currently developed by leading New Space company SpaceX.

Space illustrator Tony Bela captured the path of the flight in the sky from LabPadre's Sapphire Cam:

NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launch

Today, July 30, at 7:50 AM (EDT) NASA will launch its next generation Mars 2020 Perseverance rover to Mars. The rover will land on Mars on February 18, 2021 in Jezero Crater (Western Isidis Planitia) to collect samples for later retrieval; the rover will be accompanied by a small reconnaissance drone-helicopter Ingenuity.

Here you can watch NASA's livestream of the launch:

The Perseverance is a twin rover of the Curiosity rover (working on Mars since 2012) with some upgrades:

Overview of the Perseverance scientific instruments:

SpaceX Starship fleet orbiting Earth by Dale Rutherford

Picture of the Day 29/7/2020 - SpaceX's Starship fleet consisting of several crew and cargo Starships orbiting Earth and preparing to depart for Mars by Scottish photographer & designer Dale Rutherford. More of his art here.

How SpaceX Mars Colony could look like in a few decades

Polish 3D artist Andrzej Pawelec has created his concept how SpaceX's Mars Colony could look like in a few decades with thousands of inhabitants. Here is detailed animation and drawings of his concept: