Underground oasis in a Martian lava tube

Shane Powers (USA) & Linjie Wang (China) have created a design of an artificial underground oasis in a Martian lava tube for Marstopia international design contest held by Eleven Magazine. Their design named "Below Freezing" won the "honourable mention" award in the contest. Its main feature, besides utilizing natural lava tubes, is a vertical transportation system (surrounded by 3D-printed ice walls) to Mars's surface. Martian lava tubes could become very handy in creating large, radiation-protected spaces for future human colonists on Mars.

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:

Canteen at human colony on Mars by Ozgur Saral

Concept of a canteen interior at human colony on Mars by Turkish CG artist Ozgur Saral. More of his art here.

Full demo of the CG concept:

Total Recall (1990) concept art by Ron Cobb

Australian artist Ron Cobb has done concept art for many famous sci-fi movies, as Star Wars, Alien, Back to the Future and countless other. One of the movies he has worked on is a movie known to all Mars fans - Total Recall (1990), stared by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside and directed by Paul Verhoeven. Here are some historic concept art images created by Ron Cobb for the famous movie:

Maglev train connecting Martian colonies

Mars colony exterior

Mars shuttle

Mars colony on both sides of a canyon by Mondolithic Studios

Picture of the Day 5/9/2020 - Modular multi-level human colony on Mars situated on both sides of a canyon by Mondolithic Studios (Chris Wren & Kenn Brown).

Earthscrapers (inverted underground skyscrapers) could be perfect for Mars

When building on Mars you need to seriously consider measures to protect the inhabitants from cosmic radiation. You can cover your very first Martian outpost with few meters of regolith or use expensive materials with radiation blocking properties but for larger structures the obvious choice is to build underground. Lava tubes could be a solution but they are not present everywhere on Mars. So most likely you will need to dig your habitats.

One of the building types perfect for Mars could be earthscrapers (or would you call them marsscrapers on Mars?) - inverted underground skyscrapers with large vertical central void (covered with a transparent dome on the surface) for natural lighting. The living and public space is arranged in multiple levels encircling that central void. Here is an example of such structure designed by Fernando Castiñeira, Hernan Goldfarb, Alejandro Ispani, Alex Nelken, Javier Maratea & Malena Verni for 2007 Skyscraper Competition by eVolo.us

Simple diagram of the design:

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.

Amazon Prime Air deliveries on Mars

Picture of the Day 20/8/2020 - Amazon Prime Air craft delivering packages on Mars by American concept designer Dave Arredondo. More of his art here.

Domed Mars Colony by Arss Design

Picture of the Day 19/8/2020 - human colony under a dome on Mars by 3D artist Arss Design.

SpaceX Starship fleet landing on Mars - video animation by Roger Bootsma

Video animation with SpaceX's Starship fleet consisting of one crew Starship and four cargo Starships landing on Mars by Austrian 3D environment artist Roger Bootsma. More of his art here.

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 orbital station above terraformed Mars by Encho Enchev

Picture of the Day 29/6/2020 - Concept art for SpaceX's orbital station above partly terraformed Mars by Encho Enchev from Ubisoft. More of his concept 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.

Morning at a futuristic city on Mars by Christian Hecker

Picture of the Day 8/6/2020 - wallpaper with a woman waking up in the morning at a futuristic city on terraformed Mars by German digital artist Christian Hecker. More of his art here.

(Open link in new tab to view ⇩ in HD wallpaper resolution)

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.