Mars outpost by Robert McCall

Picture of the Day 02/11/2021 - An early human outpost on Mars consisting of several landers and rovers by classical space artist Robert McCall.

Mars base in Civilization 6 strategy game

Civilization 6 (Sid Meier's Civilization VI) is a turn-based strategy game released in 2016. The goal for the player is to develop a civilization from an early settlement through many in-game millennia to become a world power and achieve one of several victory conditions. One of the paths to win the game is through science domination where you need to be the first to launch a satellite, land humans on the Moon and establish a Martian colony.

Spaceship approaching Mars to establish a colony there:

Full in-game cinematic for science victory:

Mars exploration expedition returning to their base

Mars exploration expedition finally returning to their base at sunset before the onset of a cold Martian night by Mondolithic Studios (Chris Wren & Kenn Brown).

Village on partly terraformed Mars by Nuno Fontarra

Eventually Mars won't be only domed cities and underground bunkers. It will be a live planet with towns and villages.

Picture of the Day 23/05/2021 - a view of what could be a village on a partly terraformed Mars by Portuguese architect Nuno Fontarra.

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:

Buildup of Mars Base Alpha

1st stage - initial base:

Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution

2nd stage - mid-sized base:

Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution

Mars base by Mark Garlick

Picture of the Day 12/04/2021 - an early human base on Mars by British illustrator Mark Garlick. More of his art here. Note the Spirit/Opportunity rover in the field.

Mars base by Maciej Rebisz

Picture of the Day 20/12/2020 - Exploration rover at human base on Mars by Polish artist Maciej Rebisz - concept art for Space Company Simulator - a management simulation game (2018) where your final goal is to launch the first manned mission to Mars. Maciej Rebisz is currently working as senior concept artist for game developer CD Projekt RED (The Witcher game series, Cyberpunk 2077); more of his art here.

Mars base in a crater by Sam Taylor

Picture of the Day 12/11/2020 - Retro style illustration of a human base in a Martian crater by digital artist Sam Taylor for his poster "Mars - Adventure Awaits". More of his art here.

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:

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 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.

NASA's base on Mars by Pat Rawlings

Picture of the Day 15/6/2020 - NASA's research base on Mars (1985) by classical space illustrator Pat Rawlings. More of his art here.

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.

Mars base by Dotted Yeti

Picture of the Day 21/4/2020 - small modular human base on Mars by Dotted Yeti.

Mars base exteriors from Doom (2005) movie

"Doom" is a 2005 sci-fi horror action movie loosely based on the Doom video game series. In the movie, set in mid-21st century, a group of marines are sent on a rescue mission to a research facility on Mars, where they encounter genetically engineered violent creatures with superhuman abilities. Exterior of the Martian research facility is shown only in a few split-seconds in the movie and here are images from those rare moments:

Mars base by Ondra Štefák

Picture of the Day 28/2/2020 - Mars base by Czech motion designer Ondra Štefák.

Mars base concept art for Ad Astra by Jonathan Bach

Concept art of the Martian base in Ad Astra (2019) movie by American film concept artist Jonathan Bach. More of his art here.

Ground level view of the base:

Large human base on Mars by Manchu (Philippe Bouchet)

Picture of the Day 12/1/2020 - lander landing at a large human base on Mars featuring several residential domes & greenhouses, solar array, tall communications antenna, light reconnaissance plane and enclosed landing pad. It's a concept art by French sci-fi artist Manchu (Philippe Bouchet) from French chapter of The Mars Society (Association Planète Mars).

Closeup of the central part of the base:

Poster of Tesla Cybertruck at Schiaparelli Crater on Mars

Poster of Tesla Cybertruck, pressurized edition, near a human base at Schiaparelli Crater on Mars by American video game concept artist Darren Bacon. More of his art here. Note a SpaceX cargo Starship (the 3-legged Tin Tin edition) on launch pad at the base.

SpaceX Mars Base Alpha in late 2030s

A few hours ago SpaceX posted on their Flickr account 4K resolution versions of the previously released renders with the new design of Starship. Here is a closeup (open image link in new tab for best resolution) from one of them with Starship launching from Mars Base Alpha. According to our speculated Mars Colonization Timeline the first human base on Mars could be developed to the pictured level by late 2030s.