Picture of the Day 30/9/2019 - Supplied by regular SpaceX's Starship flights, Moon Base Alpha has grown into a large human colony with dome-shaped habitat complexes in the center, surrounded in semi-circle by industrial area and solar array - a closeup from the Lunar colony render in Elon Musk's recent Starship update presentation.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Sunday, September 29, 2019
SpaceX Starship launching from Mars Base Alpha
In yesterdays SpaceX's Starship update Elon Musk teased a new concept image of Starship launching from Mars Base Alpha (1st image). The new design of the Starship was also included into an older concept image of Mars Base Alpha and posted on SpaceX's Twitter account (2nd image). Open link in new tab to view image in full resolution.
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Slides from SpaceX Starship 2019 update presentation by Elon Musk
Today SpaceX CEO and lead designer Elon Musk provided an update of SpaceX's Starship design. Here are slides and animations from his presentation (open link in new tab to view image in full resolution).
Basic info about the new Starship:
Layout of Starship Raptor engines:
Super Heavy booster layout:
Starship comparison with Starhopper and Millennium Falcon:
Thursday, September 26, 2019
SpaceX Starship old design vs. the new one by Kimi Talvitie
Following the development of SpaceX's Starship Mk 1 prototype at company's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, Finnish 3D artist Kimi Talvitie has made a model comparison of Starship's old 3 fin/leg design (on left) vs. the possible new one with 2 rear fins and 6 separate landing legs (on right). More of Kimi's art on his Twitter account.
Elon Musk will present Starship's new design on September 28 at Boca Chica.
Elon Musk will present Starship's new design on September 28 at Boca Chica.
He has also made an animation of the possible new design:
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Boy watching a rocket launch from Mars by Arthur Gore
Picture of the Day 25/9/2019 - young boy watching a SpaceX's Starship-style rocket launching from Mars by Latvian concept artist Arthur Gore. More of his art here.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Possible SpaceX Starship Mk 1 propellant tank layout by Michel Lamontagne
SpaceX's Starship Mk 1 prototype, being built at company's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, is seeing some rapid development in recent days (prior to Elon Musk's promised update on September 28). New hardware is being attached to the prototype and we can start some educated guesses of the final Starship Mk 1 design which will differ quite substantially from the Starship renders SpaceX provided as recently as in May.
Canadian design engineer Michel Lamontagne has posted his speculative graphics of the possible Starship Mk 1 propellant tank and fin layout on NASASpaceFlight.com forum (where he is known as lamontagne). More of his spaceship renderings here.
Canadian design engineer Michel Lamontagne has posted his speculative graphics of the possible Starship Mk 1 propellant tank and fin layout on NASASpaceFlight.com forum (where he is known as lamontagne). More of his spaceship renderings here.
Images from the construction site indicate the header tanks (meant for propellant needed for landing) are installed into the front cone of Starship Mk 1:
Sunday, September 22, 2019
SpaceX Starship over Mars by Mack Crawford
Digital artist Mack Crawford (brickmack), known for his stunning rocket animations, has made his last render of SpaceX's TinTin-style Starship (flying with deployed solar panels over Mars) as it seems the actual Starship built in Texas & Florida and waiting to be presented by Elon Musk on September 28 will have different shape. More of Mack's space concept art here.
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Possible cover for SpaceX Starship Mk 1 flap hinges spotted
Seeing most recent hardware delivered at SpaceX's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, where the Starship Mk 1 prototype is being built, Reddit user u/avibat is speculating that the new hardware is stainless steel cover for Starship's fin hinges to protect them during re-entry into atmosphere. One of the hinges has already been attached to the main body of Starship (spotted by BocaChicaGal from NASASpaceFlight.com forum) and right now they are attaching the fin to it (the process can be watched online through LabPadre's 24/7 live stream).
Fin hinge Pipe attached to one side of Starship Mk 1 (photo by BocaChicaGal):
Attaching first fin to SpaceX's Starship Mk1 (photo by BocaChicaGal):
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Future city on terraformed Mars by Julian Faylona
Picture of the Day 19/9/2019 - City consisting of several independent and self-sustaining "hives" on terraformed Mars in a far future by digital artist Julian Faylona. More of his art here.
Saturday, September 14, 2019
New cinematic trailer for Occupy Mars simulation game released
The Martian frontier is yours in Occupy Mars - the upcoming (as of today: Coming soon) highly technical open world simulation game about Mars colonization from Polish indie game developer Pyramid Games. In the game you will be able to "build and upgrade your base, discover new amazing regions, conduct mining operations, retrieve water and generate oxygen, grow crops, fix broken parts, learn how to survive on Mars!"
Here is the newest cinematic trailer of the game and beautiful HD images from it. Note the SpaceX's Starman style spacesuit and ITS v2016 Starship.
Here is the newest cinematic trailer of the game and beautiful HD images from it. Note the SpaceX's Starman style spacesuit and ITS v2016 Starship.
SpaceX ITS v2016 Starship landing at Mars base:
Assembling Mars base module by module:
Astronaut planting a tree in Mars biodome:
Mars base layout:
Friday, September 13, 2019
SpaceX Starship landing at Mars base by Colin Doublier
Picture of the Day 13/9/2019 - Sketch of SpaceX's Starship landing at Mars base by French urban artist Colin Doublier. More of his art here. Note the rover from The Martian and 3D-printed habitats by Hassell & EOC and AI SpaceFactory in the scene.
Monday, September 9, 2019
Three phases of terraforming Mars by Björn Selin
Annotated images with three phases of exploring and terraforming Mars by Swedish game artist Björn Selin. The images were made with the guidance of planetary scientist Chris McKay from NASA's Ames Research Center.
Phase 1 - exploration - humans can explore the barren Red planet only within protective pressure suits / rovers / habitats:
Phase 2 - planetary ecosynthesis - the air pressure and temperature has risen to the level where only warm clothing and oxygen mask is needed; simple organisms as lichens can be introduced:
Phase 3 - spreading life - humidity and temperature has risen to the level where only oxygen mask is needed; more complex organisms can be introduced:
Friday, September 6, 2019
Speculative internal structure of SpaceX Starship by William Falconer-Beach
William Falconer-Beach, a young graphic designer from New Zealand, has made several renders with possible internal structure of SpaceX's Starship. More of his Starship renders here.
Note this is only a speculation by artist. Hopefully we will see some information about Starship's internal layout in Elon Musk's presentation on September 28.
Note this is only a speculation by artist. Hopefully we will see some information about Starship's internal layout in Elon Musk's presentation on September 28.
Starship's crew section:
Thursday, September 5, 2019
B&W SpaceX Starship renders by Brandon Bolleber
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Candidate sites for SpaceX Starship Mars landings revealed
[on September 2 info & map updated with additional two possible landing sites]
Robert Zimmerman from BehindTheBlack.com has found several images labelled as "Candidate Landing Site for SpaceX Starship [..]" in the latest data release from University of Arizona's HiRISE camera (aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). It means that with help from NASA SpaceX is already quietly evaluating the best place where to land first Starships on Mars. Here are direct links to HiRISE image of: Site 1, Site 2, Site 3, Site 4, Site 5 (in Arcadia Planitia) & Site 6 (in Phlegra Montes).
For several years it hasn't been a secret SpaceX is considering four Martian regions for landings: Deuteronilus Mensae, Phlegra Montes, Utopia Planitia and southern Arcadia Planitia. But even in 2017 southern Arcadia Planitia looked "more promising", according to Paul Wooster, Principal Mars Development Engineer at SpaceX. So by now SpaceX may very well be down to evaluating more precise landing sites in that region.
All the candidate landing sites (except #6 in Phlegra Montes) are located on the border between Amazonis Planitia and Arcadia Planitia. According to latest data, Arcadia Planitia is one of the few regions where abundant shallow ice is present at relatively low latitudes. There is strong evidence that this location holds buried ice glaciers. So it has two critical elements looked by SpaceX for its Mars Base Alpha: solar energy and water. Those are critical not only for life support but also for refueling Starships. It's also in low altitude meaning a bit higher air pressure than in higher areas on Mars; that is beneficial for radiation protection and creates more atmospheric drag during the landing.
Robert Zimmerman from BehindTheBlack.com has found several images labelled as "Candidate Landing Site for SpaceX Starship [..]" in the latest data release from University of Arizona's HiRISE camera (aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). It means that with help from NASA SpaceX is already quietly evaluating the best place where to land first Starships on Mars. Here are direct links to HiRISE image of: Site 1, Site 2, Site 3, Site 4, Site 5 (in Arcadia Planitia) & Site 6 (in Phlegra Montes).
For several years it hasn't been a secret SpaceX is considering four Martian regions for landings: Deuteronilus Mensae, Phlegra Montes, Utopia Planitia and southern Arcadia Planitia. But even in 2017 southern Arcadia Planitia looked "more promising", according to Paul Wooster, Principal Mars Development Engineer at SpaceX. So by now SpaceX may very well be down to evaluating more precise landing sites in that region.
All the candidate landing sites (except #6 in Phlegra Montes) are located on the border between Amazonis Planitia and Arcadia Planitia. According to latest data, Arcadia Planitia is one of the few regions where abundant shallow ice is present at relatively low latitudes. There is strong evidence that this location holds buried ice glaciers. So it has two critical elements looked by SpaceX for its Mars Base Alpha: solar energy and water. Those are critical not only for life support but also for refueling Starships. It's also in low altitude meaning a bit higher air pressure than in higher areas on Mars; that is beneficial for radiation protection and creates more atmospheric drag during the landing.
We made a map of all of the candidate sites:
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