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.

Martian colonies in Babylon 5 TV series

Babylon 5 (1994-1998) was a popular sci-fi TV show in mid-1990s. Mars is one of the secondary locations in the show coming into spotlight in the second half of season 4. In the universe of Babylon 5 the rapid colonization and terraformation of Mars starts in mid-22nd century with only limited scientific missions before that. As in almost all fiction about colonization of Mars, eventually there rises a rebellion against Earth's control with an aim for Martian independence. There are around 2 million inhabitants on Mars at the time of events depicted in the show. You can read about Mars in the universe of Babylon 5 here.

Babylon 5 was one of the first TV shows / movies heavily utilizing CGI to depict the exteriors of a human colony on Mars. At the time most filmmakers used miniature sets for that purpose, as in the famous Total Recall (1990). Here is an ultimate collection of CGI scenes set on Mars in Babylon 5; you won't find more comprehensive such collection anywhere in the internet. Take into account the CGI scenes were done in mid-1990s with very limited graphics processing power so the resolution is low.

Starman brings life to Mars

Starman brings life to Mars - inspiring cosplay photo of SpaceX's Starman holding a seedling in pressurized glass cloche at a location similar to Martian terrain by Eli Burton, known as Real Life Starman.

Savanna in a greenhouse on Mars by Casey Richards

Picture of the Day 25/4/2020 - wildlife of African savanna in a spacious greenhouse on Mars by South African illustrator Casey Richards. More of her art here.

Mars base by Dotted Yeti

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

Family on Mars by Patrick Leger

Picture of the Day 14/4/2020 - retro style illustration with family exploring surroundings of a Mars colony by American illustrator Patrick Leger. Note the boy pointing at blue Earth in the Martian sky :) More of Leger's art here.

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 colony illustrations by Luis Peres

Nice illustrations of a human colony on Mars by Portuguese fantasy artist Luis Peres for "Generation Mars: Book One - Scratching the Surface" by Douglas Meredith. The goal of this book (published on August 2019) and its upcoming series is to provide younger readers with more serious and realistic science fiction that still tackles the main “what if” quality of the genre. It gives a glimpse into what life on Mars might be like for kids just like them.

The main character, Cas, is the first human child ever born on Mars. Martian kids are living what is, to them, ordinary lives in their underground colony, but for the first time they will be allowed to see and explore the surface of their homeworld. The details of the habitat, its life-support systems, and surface suits are rooted in realistic science and technology, with further details explained in a postscript to the book. Future books of the series will address fundamental issues of survival on Mars: air, shelter, water, food, etc.

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:

Astronaut looking at Martian colony by Dotted Yeti

Picture of the Day 24/1/2020 - Astronaut looking at a radial Martian colony by Dotted Yeti.

Small garden under a geodesic dome on Mars

Picture of the Day 20/1/2020 - small patch of grass with a pond and a cabin under geodesic dome on Mars from Instagram profile @blender_every_weekday.

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:

Painting of Elon Musk on Mars by Conor Walton

Oil painting with Elon Musk, the CEO & lead designer of SpaceX, on Mars by Irish painter Conor Walton. More of his art here.

Tesla Cybertruck at Cybunker on Mars by Lars Büro

Inspired by the recently unveiled Tesla Cybertruck, the New York-based design company Lars Büro has imagined a Cybunker, "a modular architecture that can be deployed as a hi-tech depot or an off-grid residence. Made with a rigid steel monocoque structure, the aerodynamic module is able to withstand the toughest environmental conditions." ... including Mars:

Martian colonies in season 4 of The Expanse

Although Mars is one of the three competing powers in universe of The Expanse TV series (a political sci-fi detective set a few centuries in the future where humans have colonized the entire Solar system) only a few scenes were actually set on Mars in first three seasons of the series. That changes in season 4 where the life on Mars at last gets proper depiction.

In The Expanse Mars, governed by Martian Congressional Republic, is a militaristic and technologically advanced society of over nine billion inhabitants. It is the major competitor of Earth & Luna, governed by United Nations. Earth, dragged down by overpopulation and climate change, envies Mars because of its society's high mobilization towards the shared goal of terraforming Mars. But in season 4 that shared goal and order of the Martian society is starting to erode as the new habitable planets beyond the rings are discovered (without the costly need of being terraformed as Mars does). As the interplanetary military tension is over veterans find themselves needless in the peace time society; crime and corruption is rising, and some even manage to sell older military tech to Belter pirate gangs.

Here is a collection with HD images from the Martian scenes in season 4 of The Expanse (open link in new tab to view in full resolution):

Exterior and interior of a shipyard for Martian fleet:

Martian school kids training for exam:

Mars in Ad Astra (2019) movie

Ad Astra is a recent (September 2019) science fiction thriller set in mid-21st century when humanity has started to settle the inner Solar System. A son (Brad Pitt) is sent on a mission to uncover the truth about his father's (Tommy Lee Jones) long lost mission near Neptune which now threatens the survival of Earth. In his lonesome and dangerous mission he visits several places including a dynamic but wild human colony on the Moon and a desolate relay station on Mars. Here are some HD images from the Martian scenes in the movie.

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.

Underground Mars colony for 1000 people by InnSpace

A weak ago we posted a concept of Mars colony for 1000 people created by InnSpace team from Poland for Mars Colony Prize contest (held by The Mars Society). In some of the responses there was a critique stressing out the colony should be built underground for better radiation protection. Since then the authors of the concept sent us some additional renderings from which we can conclude it's actually the case - the concept includes most of the buildings being built underground (with only the transparent rooftops sticking out from regolith cover for natural lighting) and interconnected via underground passages.

A hyperloop line entering the colony:

Mars colony for 1000 people by Innspace team (Mars Colony Prize contest)

This year The Mars Society held 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." According to speculations laid out in our Mars Colonization Timeline the first human base on Mars could reach a thousand inhabitants by late 2040s.

The winners of the contest were chosen at the International Mars Society convention in Los Angeles, California in October 2019. Here are images of the Ideacity concept by InnSpace team from Poland which got the 5th place:

Central cluster of the colony: