Factory on Mars by Adam Taylor

Picture of the Day 3/11/2019 - digital drawing of a factory on Mars by American concept artist Adam Taylor. More of his art here.

Orcus Patera base on Mars from Orbiter space flight simulator

Orbiter is a free-to-play space flight simulator developed by a single man Martin Schweiger since 2000 (the last major update was on 2016) and using realistic physics. Originally it's a very bare-bones program, but has a lot of fan-made addons which make the simulator much more enjoyable. One of those addons is Orcus Patera - a fictional human base/spaceport located in Orcus Patera depression on Mars; the addon is developed by Well and DanSteph.

Here are some images of the base modified in New Rome addon (which uses more recent Mars HRSC high-res texture pack and places the base in Valles Marineris):

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.

Colonized Valles Marineris region on Mars from season 4 teaser of The Expanse

There are two short scenes on Mars in the latest season 4 teaser for The Expanse TV series - a political sci-fi detective set a few centuries in the future where humans have colonized the entire Solar system; Mars is one of three competing forces in the universe of The Expanse. There were three more scenes on Mars in the first teaser for season 4.

Human colonies in Valles Marineris region (horizontally flipped in the trailer for some unknown reason) on Mars:

Earth's leader Avasarala attending a diplomatic banquet on Mars:

⇛ HD images of Mars from season 2 of The Expanse TV series here

Incredible miniatures for Total Recall (1990) Martian landscapes

One of the best movies set on Mars ever made - Total Recall (1990), stared by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin and Sharon Stone and directed by Paul Verhoeven (known also for Starship Troopers, RoboCop, Basic Instinct and other movies), was the last major movie to heavily utilize miniature effects before computer graphics took that job. Vast and incredibly detailed miniature Martian landscapes were built for the movie. Unfortunately most of the miniatures were destroyed after the filming was done. Here are some rare photos from the production process of the miniature Martian landscapes before their destruction.

Mars colony:

⇩ in movie ⇩

The spaceport:

Human base in a Martian canyon by Colin Geller

Picture of the Day 11/10/2019 - Damaged human base in a Martian canyon - concept art by Colin Geller for "Lazarus labs" exterior in DOOM (2016) computer game.

Family spacecraft approaching Martian spaceport by Clive Almeida

Inspiring scene from our bright future where humanity has colonized the Solar system - family spacecraft approaching Martian spaceport by Indian concept artist Clive Almeida; an image from his concept of a Mars theme park "Mars: a brave new world". More of his art here.

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.

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.

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.

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.

SpaceX ITS v2016 Starship landing at Mars base:

Assembling Mars base module by module:

Astronaut planting a tree in Mars biodome:

Mars base layout:

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.

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:

Mars colony construction from The Space Between Us movie

Picture of the Day 26/8/2019 - Construction site of a human colony with several domes on Mars from The Space Between Us (2017) - a teen romance movie about the first child born on Mars. More images from the movie here.

Mars base paintings by Romek Delimata

Here are several digital concept paintings of a human base on Mars by British film artist Romek Delimata, who has worked for such well-known movies / TV series as Interstellar, First Man, Westworld, Game of Thrones, Guardians of the Galaxy, Behind Enemy Lines etc. These images were made for The Last Days on Mars (2013) - a zombie virus horror thriller set on Mars.

Mars base at night:

Mars base interior:

Another version with different configuration and a rover parked next to the base:

Mars city clouded in a sandstorm

Picture of the Day 19/8/2019 - Mars city clouded in a sandstorm; an image of ArcCorp Area 18 cityscape from upcoming massively multiplayer online (MMO) game Star Citizen funded by an unprecedented crowdfunding campaign of over $200 million on Kickstarter. The game is released by modules and is playable for several years now in alpha stage.

Mars colony bored into a mountain from season 4 teaser of The Expanse

Two weeks ago came out the first season 4 teaser for The Expanse TV series - a political sci-fi detective set a few centuries in the future where humans have colonized the entire Solar system; Mars is one of three competing forces in the universe of The Expanse. There are two three short scenes on Mars in the teaser.

Human colony bored into a Martian mountain:

Shuttle over colonized Mars:

Earth's leader Avasarala in Martian tunnel:

⇛ HD images of Mars from season 2 of The Expanse TV series here

Domed park with central waterfall on Mars

Design of what could be a domed park with central, artificial waterfall and public space on Mars by Safdie Architects. These are design images for 1.3 billion $ Jewel Changi Airport project opened on April 2019 in Singapore. The Jewel is a connector hub for Singapore's Changi Airport terminals, designed in shape of glass & steel torus dome with world's tallest indoor waterfall in the center and multi-level marketplace & public space hidden inside gardens on the terraces and in canyons around it.

Shops and restaurants are well hidden inside gardens:

Early human base on Mars by Ronan Le Fur (Dofresh)

Picture of the Day 10/8/2019 - Astronaut observing early human base on Mars by French concept artist and illustrator Ronan Le Fur (known as Dofresh). More of his art here.

Leaving the cradle - incredible trailer of TerraGenesis

The latest trailer of TerraGenesis mobile game made by famous YouTuber MelodySheep is just stunning, reminding the vibes of The Expanse TV series. TerraGenesis is a popular mobile terraforming simulator game where you can establish a colony and gradually terraform other planetary bodies in Solar System.



Here are some images from the trailer: