Evolution of SpaceX' vision for human colony on Mars

From 2017 onward, SpaceX steadily refined their vision for the 1st human colony on Mars - from the debut of early visuals of an ambitious Mars City during the BFR (Big Falcon Rocket) unveiling, to increasingly detailed illustrations by 2019 showcasing the gleaming stainless‑steel Starship touching down and launching from this base. The 2022 update introduced animations emphasizing mission sequence - transports arriving, crewed modules landing, and a functioning spaceport. By April 2024, the concept had matured into a recognizable, modular Mars habitat design centered around a robust Starship fleet. Finally, in May 2025, the latest rendering unveiled a full-fledged Martian city with partially underground habitats to shield against radiation and Tesla Optimus robots constructing the city, marking the culmination of conceptual evolution from isolated landing pads to a thriving, self‑sustaining urban landscape on Mars.

September 2017

On September 29, 2017, Elon Musk provided 2nd annual presentation of the Starship architecture (then called BFR or Big Falcon Rocket). During the presentation titled "Making life multiplanetary" first official SpaceX visualizations for a Mars City were provided:

March 2019

On March 22, 2019, Elon Musk visited Doyle Ryder Elementary school in Flint, Michigan and demonstrated a new video of SpaceX's Starship landing at Mars Base Alpha:

SpaceX Starship Mars mission update 2025

On May 29th at Starbase, Texas SpaceX CEO and lead designer Elon Musk provided an update of SpaceX's Starship Mars architecture "The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary". Here are slides from his presentation.

Full presentation:

Slides from the presentation

Starship mission timeline for next 4 Earth-Mars transfer windows every 26 months:

The next opportunity is in the end of 2026, with landing in 2027:

SpaceX Mars mission in 2026:

SpaceX Mars mission in 2028:

New Year's Eve fireworks at a Martian colony

Celebrating New Year's Eve with fireworks at a human colony on Mars - a screenshot from 2022 science fiction teen comedy "Moonshot" set in 2049 when trips to Mars has become routine for skilled or wealthy people.

SpaceX Starship mission to Mars in 2030 - animated story by iamVisual

Canadian VFX artist and YouTuber iamVisual has created an animated short story of SpaceX's Starship human mission to Mars in 2030:

Starship launch towers in Starbase, Texas:

Stage separation:

Garden under a geodesic dome

Picture of the Day 07/09/2024 - design of a garden under a geodesic dome for the King Salman Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to be opened this year as the largest urban park in the world. Public gardens in future Arab settlements on Mars could look similar as this design.

Search for a lost colony on Mars in "Deliver Us Mars" adventure game

Sequel to Deliver Us The Moon (2019), Deliver Us Mars (2023) is an atmospheric sci-fi adventure game set in mid-21st century when the ecosystem of Earth is close to extinction due to the effects of climate change. After a mysterious distress call from Mars, Earth’s youngest astronaut Kathy joins an expedition to recover the ARK colony ships stolen more than decade ago by the mysterious science-oriented organization Outward (Kathy's father Isaac is among the leaders of Outward).

Although the story of Deliver Us Mars is strictly linear and you as a player can't impact it, the story itself is well-written and interesting, revealing the truth about the fate of Outward colonists on Mars piece by piece. Some parts of the game felt like a true detective. The atmospheric visual and audial mood of the scenes complements the story well and the final act of Deliver Us Mars features one of the most compelling representations of a human colony on Mars in video games, feeling almost utopian.. especially comparing it to the dying Earth.

Unfortunately, this aspect also leads to some frustration with the strictly linear nature of the game's storytelling - you can't change the main character's endgame decision, no matter how stupid you think it is. Another source of a frustration with the game for some players will be the clunky wall climbing mechanics. Regardless these small issues Deliver Us Mars is a must-play game for any Mars fan.

Visual recap of Deliver Us Mars' STORY

Be aware of heavy spoilers, revealing major story plots.

Even before getting to Mars the expedition is riddled with severe problems

Game's protagonist (main character) is Earth’s youngest astronaut Kathy searching for her father among the lost colonists on Mars

Kathy lands near an abandoned mining facility

Martian city in "Chaser"

Chaser is an old first-person shooter released on 2003. Today there is no shortage of video games set on Mars, but back then Chaser was one of the few, even if only less than half of the game actually takes place on Mars. It follows a story somewhat similar to that of Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous movie Total Recall (1990) and I reviewed the game here 10 years ago.

Recently I made a second playthrough of the game. Part of Chaser's story takes place in a city on Mars under a large dome and here are some screenshots of the city:

Harmonia City - Part 5 of Martian sketches by Andrey Maximov

Environment concept artist Andrey Maximov from Armenia has created an impressive set of artworks called Martian sketches depicting a "routine" journey to Mars in 2089. So far he has published 30 pages of those sketches. As the artist describes them: "this series is kind of like the road sketches of a member of an expedition to Mars. It's a routine flight in the not-too-distant future. The planet is more or less inhabited. We have an orbital station around Mars. There are already several settlements on the surface, mining is going on."

• 1st part (10 sketches) of Andrey's Martian sketches depicted the expedition leaving Earth;
• 2nd part (5 sketches) depicted expedition's arrival to "International Mars Orbital Station";
• 3rd part (6 sketches) depicted spaceport "Anteros" on Mars.
• 4th part (4 sketches) depicted expedition's road to the "Harmonia City".

Here is 5th part (5 sketches) depicting the multi-leveled "Harmonia City" on Mars:

Spaceport on Mars - Part 3 of Martian sketches by Andrey Maximov

Environment concept artist Andrey Maximov from Armenia has created an impressive set of artworks called Martian sketches depicting a "routine" journey to Mars in 2089. So far he has published 25 pages of those sketches. As the artist describes them: "this series is kind of like the road sketches of a member of an expedition to Mars. It's a routine flight in the not-too-distant future. The planet is more or less inhabited. We have an orbital station around Mars. There are already several settlements on the surface, mining is going on."

1st part (10 sketches) of Andrey's Martian sketches depicted the expedition leaving Earth;
2nd part (5 sketches) depicted expedition's arrival to International Mars Orbital Station

Here is 3rd part (6 sketches) depicting spaceport "Anteros" on Mars:

Colonized Mars - Martian city lights from space

How would a colonized Mars appear from space? Here is a FHD wallpaper with lights of two large cities on Mars as they would be seen from space; created by an uncredited artist for the Mars City Design platform:

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:

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:

"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.

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."

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.

Eco-futuristic settlement in a Martian canyon by Lukas Yosi Filip

Czech architectural CG artist Lukas Yosi Filip has created a set of images of what could be an eco-futuristic settlement in a terraformed Martian canyon for his Desert Ark concept (the last sanctuaries of human knowledge, culture and research in a dystopian post-climate change world where deserts has taken over the Earth).