"For All Mankind" season 4 reveals a sprawling first human base on Mars

On September 13 Apple TV+ released the first teaser for season 4 of For All Mankind alternate history sci-fi TV series. The teaser is made in the form of a recruitment ad for Helios Aerospace and reveals in season 4 of the show the company acts as a private operator and transport provider for the international Happy Valley base on Mars. Quite a resemblance to SpaceX in our reality 😉

For All Mankind is exploring the idea of never ending space race if Soviets would have beaten US in the race for the Moon and the intention of the show is each season to jump about a decade further into the increasingly diverging reality of the show: in season 1, depicting alternate 1969 to 1974, both Soviets and US start building their separate bases near the lunar South pole; in season 2 (1983) both bases have been expanded and the superpowers compete for resources on the Lunar surface; in season 3 (1992 to 1995), Soviets and US are joined by a private company Helios and North Korea for a four way race to establish the first human base on Mars. Season 4 will start airing on November 10 on Apple TV+ and will depict the alternate 2003 or so.

Here you can watch the teaser and see some HD images from it:

Helios recruitment posters:

Happy Valley Base overview:

Industrial complex on Mars by Antarik Fox

Picture of the Day 03/09/2023 - AI generated image by Antarik Fox of an industrial complex on Mars.

The leader of the colony addressing settlers on Mars

The leader of the colony gives a speech to a crowd of Martian settlers inside a domed meeting hall of a human colony on Mars – game art from Terraformers – Mars colonization turn based strategy game released on March 2023 and developed by indie game developer Asteroid Lab.

Spaceship launch from Mars colony by Jort van Welbergen

Picture of the Day 13/08/2023 - Spaceship launch from a human colony on Mars by Dutch freelance movie and game concept designer Jort van Welbergen. More of his art here.

Closeup of the colony:

'The World of Tomorrow' (1980) book cover

In his popular science book "The World of Tomorrow", first published in 1980, Robin Kerrod depicted life as it might look in the 21st century. Today, living in the third decade of the 21st century, this depiction might seem overly technologically optimistic (like most past attempts to depict the future), but the book contains many illustrations that positively inspired a whole generation of children. Here, for example, book's cover illustration shows a spacecraft that has landed on Phobos, near a human base:

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.

Mars. Welcome to paradise

Family walking around a human outpost on Mars in a vintage style poster "Mars. Welcome to paradise" by British freelance illustrator Mark Bell.

Spherical underground Mars colony by Michel Lamontagne

One of the weak spots for any domed human colony on Mars would be the enormous pressure difference needed between the higher interior pressure suitable for humans (~ 1 bar) and the near-vacuum exterior pressure of the Martian atmosphere (0.004-0.011 bar). The dome for such a structure should have heavy anchoring deep underground. But there is a much simpler solution - a spherical hermetic structure mostly underground where only the tip of the sphere (visible as a dome) is located above the ground level. Sphere is the strongest geometric shape for containing internal pressure and the structure can be kept in place by the mass put inside the sphere.

Canadian design engineer Michel Lamontagne has created two concept drawings for such a colony where there is only a domed park above the ground level and all the rest of the colony is located below the ground level with a vertical central opening for natural lighting:

The geodesic surface dome is subdivided into small panes for easier replacement and safety:

Cargo spaceship orbiting Mars by Graham Gazzard

Picture of the Day 10/06/2023 - Cargo spaceship orbiting Mars by British sci-fi and aviation artist Graham Gazzard (known also as GrahamTG).

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:

Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution

Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution

Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution

Starship approaching Mars:

Click HERE for 4K UHD resolution

"For All Mankind" season 4 - concept art for Helios' Mars colony and space transport

In episode 9 of For All Mankind 3rd season Helios' CEO Dev Ayesa presented a vision for company's next generation spaceship, Mars orbital station and colonies on Mars, some of which we will most likely see realized in season 4 of the show which will air this autumn. We obtained high resolution concept images used in Dev's presentation, you can view further ahead.

For All Mankind is an alternate history sci-fi TV series exploring the idea of never ending space race if Soviets would have beaten US in the race for the Moon:

• In season 1, depicting alternate 1969 to 1974, both Soviets and US start building their separate bases near the lunar South pole;
• In season 2, depicting the alternate 1983, both bases have been expanded and the superpowers compete for resources on the Lunar surface;
• In season 3, depicting alternate 1992 to 1995, Soviets and US are joined by a private company Helios and.. North Korea for a four way race to establish the first human base on Mars.

The intention of the show is each season to jump about a decade further into the increasingly diverging reality of the show. The final scene of season 3 hints season 4 will depict alternate 2003 or so.

Concept art for Helios' Mars colony:

Concept art for Helios' spaceship Calypso:

Concept art for Helios' Mars orbital space station Phoenix-T1:

Lander descending to Mars colony by Michael Carroll

Picture of the Day 15/03/2023 - a lander, preparing to jettison its parachutes, descending to a human colony on Mars by American space artist and science writer Michael Carroll. The colony features several landing pads, buried habitats, several rows of large greenhouses and a nuclear power plant shielded by the rim of a nearby crater.

SpaceX Starship at a small outpost on Mars by iamVisual

Picture of the Day 18/02/2023 - SpaceX's Starship and a pair of Tesla Cybertrucks parked at a small outpost on Mars by YouTuber iamVisual.

Terraformed & colonized Mars as it would be seen from space

Terraformed and colonized Mars as it would be seen from Phobos, the closest of two natural Martian moons, by British illustrator Mark Garlick. More of his art here.

Martian city lights from space

Two FHD wallpapers (1920 x 1080) with the city lights of a large city on Mars as they would be seen from space. The images were created by an uncredited artist(s) for HP's "Mars Home Planet" rendering challenge in 2018 inviting participants "to imagine, create and virtually experience a sophisticated civilization on Mars. A new home for one million humans."

Astronaut looking at rocket launch tower on Mars by Mark Garlick

Picture of the Day 21/01/2023 - astronaut looking at a rocket launch tower on Mars by British illustrator Mark Garlick. More of his art here.

Lockheed Martin's vision for Mars base in 2050

At its "Destination: Space 2050" event in October Lockheed Martin (one of the largest American aerospace, advanced technologies and defense companies) shared its vision of a vibrant space economy in the year 2050. Here Lockheed Martin envisions a future on Mars with "power beaming, laser communications and robotic in-situ construction for a sustainable living and economic environment". Note company's conceptual Mars lander on the landing pad.

Lockheed Martin's animation of "Destination: Space 2050" vision:

Phobos as a space elevator for Mars

Building a Martian space elevator would be complicated by the Martian moon Phobos, which is in a low orbit at ~6,028 km above the Martian surface and intersects the Equator regularly, thus getting in the way of a traditional geostationary space elevator. But there is an idea instead to build a space elevator from Phobos itself.

Phobos is tidally locked to Mars (as the Moon is to Earth), where the same side of the moon stays facing the planet. A space elevator could extend down from Phobos to Mars 6,000 km, about 28 kilometers from the surface, and just out of the atmosphere of Mars. A similar space elevator cable could extend out 6,000 km the opposite direction that would counterbalance Phobos. In total the space elevator would extend out over 12,000 km which would be below Areostationary orbit of Mars (17,032 km).

A rocket launch would still be needed to get the rocket and cargo to the beginning of the space elevator 28 km above the surface. The surface of Mars is rotating at 0.25 km/s at the equator and the bottom of the space elevator would be rotating around Mars at 0.77 km/s, so only 0.52 km/s of Delta-v would be needed to get to the space elevator. Phobos orbits at 2.15 km/s and the outer most part of the space elevator would rotate around Mars at 3.52 km/s.

In our speculative Mars Colonization Timeline we have estimated such a Phobos-based space elevator could be built as soon as in 2080s–2090s. In adition to the space elevator there could be built a shuttle port at the summit of Pavonis Mons – the Martian volcano practically on the equator – for shuttles heading to and coming from Phobos space elevator. The summit of Pavonis Mons is standing 14 km above Mars' mean surface level (way above the denser part of the atmosphere), halving the needed trip to the shuttle platform at space elavator's lower tip 28 km above the surface.

Martian city on terraformed Mars

Martian city on terraformed Mars – a gameplay art from Terraformers – Mars colonization turn based strategy game released in early access on April 2022 and developed by indie game developer Asteroid Lab. In about a week the game will get a major update, including the ability to continue your game after achieving a victory condition, thus further expanding your civilization on Mars.

SpaceX Mars Base Alpha by Caspar Stanley

Picture of the Day 26/11/2022 - SpaceX's Starman looking at Mars Base Alpha from the observation deck of a Starship by Danish freelance 3D artist Caspar Stanley.