Showing posts with label Mars Base Alpha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mars Base Alpha. Show all posts

Saturday, July 22, 2023

SpaceX Starship landing at Mars Base Alpha by Mark Garlick

British illustrator Mark Garlick has created a set of renders depicting SpaceX's Starship landing at a spaceport near Mars Base Alpha. The spaceport is equipped with a shorter version of SpaceX's launch integration tower for catching and launching only the second stage of Starship rocket, since Mars's comparably lower gravity doesn't require Starship's booster stage to reach orbit.

SpaceX Starship landing at Mars Base Alpha by Mark Garlick

SpaceX Starship at Mars Base Alpha by Mark Garlick

SpaceX Starship at Mars Base Alpha by Mark Garlick

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

SpaceX Starship landing on Mars - 4K UHD renders from Elon's Starship update 2022

When SpaceX CEO and lead designer Elon Musk gave his latest Starship update in February 2022, the presentation contained an animation of Starship's mission to Mars with a landing at Mars Base Alpha in the end. Today SpaceX finally gave public access to 4K UHD version of that animation. Here are some images from it.
Starship landing at Mars Base Alpha:
SpaceX Mars Base Alpha from Elon Musk's Starship update 2022
Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution

SpaceX Mars Base Alpha spaceport from Elon Musk's Starship update 2022
Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution

SpaceX Starmen arriving at Mars Base Alpha from Elon Musk's Starship update 2022
Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution
Starship approaching Mars:
SpaceX Starship approaching Mars from Elon Musk's Starship update 2022
Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Sunday, October 16, 2022

SpaceX Starship at spaceport on Mars by Colin Doublier

Picture of the Day 16/10/2022 - Painting of SpaceX Starship preparing for launch from Mars Base Alpha's spaceport by French urban artist Colin Doublier. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship at spaceport on Mars by Colin Doublier

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Mars Base Alpha in a crater by Anastasia Volyk & Vladyslav Lysenko

Ukrainian 3D artists Anastasia Volyk and Vladyslav Lysenko have created a concept for SpaceX's Mars Base Alpha in a small Martian crater. The individual habitats scattered on the inner slope of the crater wall are connected with the center of the colony via partially underground hyperloop lines. In the further future hyperloop lines could connect Mars Base Alpha with other human colonies on Mars. I would place Starship launch pads outside the crater.

Mars Base Alpha in a crater by Anastasia Volyk and Vladyslav Lysenko

Mars Base Alpha by Anastasia Volyk and Vladyslav Lysenko

SpaceX Starship launch from Mars Base Alpha by Anastasia Volyk and Vladyslav Lysenko

Friday, April 15, 2022

SpaceX Starships at Mars Base Alpha by TijnM

YouTuber TijnM has created an animation of SpaceX's Starship traveling to Mars and landing at Mars Base Alpha. Here are two renders of the base made for the animation:

SpaceX Starships at Mars Base Alpha by TijnM

Mars Base Alpha by TijnM
Here is the full animation:

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Mars Base Alpha by Colin Doublier

Picture of the Day 19/02/2022 - Painting of several SpaceX Starship launch towers equipped with Mechazilla catch system in front of Mars Base Alpha by French urban artist Colin Doublier. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship at Mars Base Alpha by Colin Doublier

Saturday, February 12, 2022

Elon's latest vision for Mars Base Alpha

During Starship update presentation on Thursday SpaceX CEO and lead designer Elon Musk shared to us SpaceX's latest vision for Mars Base Alpha. Here are some images from the animation.
Part of Mars Base Alpha is covered with a large, transparent dome:
SpaceX's Mars Base Alpha from Elon's Starship update 2022
Starships are landing on landing pads some distance away from the base:
Starship landing pads at Mars Base Alpha from Elon's Starship update 2022
Settlers arriving at Mars Base Alpha:
Settlers arriving at SpaceX's Mars Base Alpha from Elon's Starship update 2022
Animation of Starship landing at Mars Base Alpha shared by Elon:

Sunday, November 7, 2021

SpaceX Starship at Mars Base Alpha by Caspar Stanley

SpaceX's Starship standing in front of a geodesic dome at Mars Base Alpha by Danish freelance 3D artist Caspar Stanley. It's quite likely the first crewed Starships sent to Mars and acting as temporary habitats for the first settlers will stay on Mars forever, forming the basis of Mars Base Alpha built around them, as can be seen in SpaceX's own renderings.

SpaceX Starship at Mars Base Alpha by Caspar Stanley

Thursday, October 21, 2021

Starship spaceport at Mars Base Alpha

A futuristic vision of a Starman walking past spaceport at Mars Base Alpha in 2080 by YouTuber iamVisual. There are several SpaceX Starships and Starman's Tesla Cybertruck parked at the spaceport. We estimate such sight will be possible much sooner – in around 2040.

Starman walking near Starship spaceport at Mars Base Alpha by iamVisual

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Starship Super Heavy launch pads at Mars City

As SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk has acknowledged, eventually Super Heavy booster stages for Starships could be manufactured on Mars as a launch platform for outer Solar system missions. Here is a vision of several Starship Super Heavy (in its 2016 design, then called Interplanetary Transport System) launch pads at Mars City's spaceport by US designer Casey Alexander.

"Mars City" is the name Elon Musk gave to SpaceX's future human colony on Mars (now referred to as "Mars Base Alpha") in some earlier presentations of SpaceX's Mars colonization architecture.

SpaceX Starship at Mars city (Mars Base Alpha) by Casey Alexander

Saturday, May 1, 2021

Elon Musk arrives to Mars Base Alpha

Who will guess the year? SpaceX's CEO and chief designer Elon Musk finally arrives to the spaceport of Mars Base Alpha by American comics artist Eli Burton, creator of The Adventures of Starman.

Elon Musk arrives to Mars Base Alpha by RealLifeStarman

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

SpaceX Mars Base Alpha in 4K UHD quality

When Elon Musk gave his 2nd annual presentation of the Starship architecture (then called BFR or Big Falcon Rocket) in September 2017, the presentation contained an animation of Mars Base Alpha buildup. Granted, the representation looks more like Sim City on Mars with generic buildings in octagonal pattern, but it's the best visual overview of Mars Base Alpha buildup SpaceX has officially provided yet. Here are images from that animation in 4K UHD quality we haven't seen been posted anywhere else.
Closeup of Mars Base Alpha:
SpaceX's Mars Base Alpha
Buildup of Mars Base Alpha
1st stage - initial base:
SpaceX's Mars Base Alpha - 1st stage - initial base
Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution
2nd stage - mid-sized base:
SpaceX's Mars Base Alpha - 2nd stage - mid-sized base
Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

SpaceX has downselected 7 potential Mars landing sites for Starship

On September 2019 it was revealed SpaceX has selected several Starship candidate landing sites on Mars. The candidate sites were located in Southern Arcadia Planitia East of Erebus Montes and one in Phlegra Montes.

Since then SpaceX has conducted several workshops with the Mars science community to evaluate and narrow the list of candidate landing sites. All the sites must fit several criteria:
  1. close to significant deposits of water/ice, a required resource for in situ propellant production and a consumable to support habitation;
  2. elevation below -2 km (with respect to the MOLA geoid) that can support the delivery of large payloads, with -3 km preferred;
  3. latitude must be <40° for solar power and thermal management, and closer to the equator is desirable;
  4. multiple separate landing locations spaced within a few km of each other, to support the multiple missions needed to grow an outpost;
  5. slopes should be <5° over a 10 m length scale and the chance of impacting a rock greater than 0.5 m high (1 m diameter) should be <5%;
  6. landing site must be radar reflective to enable measurement of the distance to the surface, and it must be load bearing to support the spacecraft at touchdown.

Recently an abstract with the conclusions has been published (the results of the study will be presented in two weeks, at the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference), pointing out 4 prime and 3 secondary potential Starship landing sites selected for further study and located in Phlegra Montes, Erebus Montes and Southern Arcadia Planitia:
  • PM-1 has the lowest latitude and elevation of the Phlegra Montes sites, a clear association with LDAs (local ice deposits expressed as lobate debris aprons), well developed polygons (one of the indicators of ice-related morphologies), and has the highest SWIM (Subsurface Water Ice Mapping) score for geomorphic indicators of ice;
  • AP-1 (Arcadia Planitia) appears to be one of the safest sites and has a moderate combined SWIM score for ice;
  • AP-9 has the thickest ice from radar returns (of the Arcadia Planitia sites) and geomorphology indicating shallow ice. It has the highest combined SWIM score for ice, but appears slightly rocky and rough;
  • EM-16 has a clear association with an LDA with nearby brain terrain and the strongest radar return for shallow ice and the highest combined SWIM score of the Erebus Montes sites;
  • AP-8 (Arcadia Planitia) appears to be one of the safest sites and has the highest neutron and combined SWIM scores for ice;
  • EM-15 (Erebus Montes) is associated with a prominent but less extensive LDA, has well developed polygons, nearby brain terrain and appears smooth;
  • PM-7 is adjacent to lineated valley fill (attributed to glacial flow) and appears to be the safest of the Phlegra sites.

We highlighted selected ★ prime and ★ secondary sites on the map:
7 potential sites for SpaceX Starship Mars landing
Mars heightmap (180° in center)

Monday, September 21, 2020

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).

SpaceX Mars Base Alpha concept by Sotiris

SpaceX Mars Base Alpha concept by Sotiris
Cutaway of the habitation module:
Mars habitation module concept by Sotiris - cutaway

Thursday, July 16, 2020

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:



SpaceX's Mars Colony concept by Andrzej Pawelec

SpaceX's Mars Colony concept by Andrzej Pawelec

Monday, June 22, 2020

SpaceX Starships at Mars Base Alpha by Konstantin Ermolaev

CG creator Konstantin Ermolaev has created his vision of SpaceX's early Mars Base Alpha in a Martian crater. Here are several of his renders with three Starships landed at the base. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starships at Mars Base Alpha by Konstantin Ermolaev

SpaceX Starships at Mars Base Alpha by Konstantin Ermolaev

Friday, May 15, 2020

Elon Musk with his youngest son X Æ A-12 at Mars Base Alpha

“Dad, what was it like to be confined indoors?”
“It doesn't matter son, now we have the whole universe to ourselves”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk with his youngest son X Æ A-12 at Mars Base Alpha by Indian space artist Eashan Misra in collaboration with Eli Burton, known as Real Life Starman. Note the Tesla Supercharger station on the left side.

Elon Musk with his youngest son X Æ A-12 at Mars Base Alpha by Eashan Misra