SpaceX Red Dragon entering Mars' atmosphere by Chris Monson

Vision of SpaceX's Dragon 2 capsule entering Mars' atmosphere (if Red Dragon missions launched by Falcon Heavy hadn't been cancelled and replaced by much more powerful Starship mission architecture) by computer designer Chris Monson. More of his art here.

Two Starmen and a Stardog exploring Mars

Picture of the Day 5/5/2020 - two Starmen and a Stardog exploring Mars by Costa Rican artist Gabriel from Guardianes de Perros.

NASA astronaut on Mars by James Vaughan

Two variants of a scene with NASA's astronaut on Mars by photographer and concept artist James Vaughan - one with a small human base in the background and the second in front of an exploration rover. More of Vaughan's aerospace and defense concept art here.

Animation envisioning first human mission to Mars

Images and video animation envisioning first human mission to Mars created by Taylor James design studio for a health care campaign "Destination Survival" by Sudler & Hennessey London.

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.

Starman resting at his Tesla Cybertruck on Mars by Eashan Misra

SpaceX's Starman resting at his Tesla Cybertruck on Mars by Indian space artist Eashan Misra. More of his art here. According to Elon Musk, the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, the pressurized edition of Cybertruck will be capable to drive on Mars.

Tesla Cybertruck on Mars

The pressurized edition of Tesla Cybertruck, unveiled yesterday by Elon Musk, will be capable operating on Mars. Reddit user u/redditbsbsbs has made an image:

Walking around China's C-Space Mars simulation base in Gobi desert

Walking around China's C-Space Mars simulation base in Gobi desert - photos and a video by Slovenian photographer Matjaž Tančič. A private company C-Space opened this base on April, 2019 in the Gobi Desert 40km from Jinchang, northwest Gansu Province. Its aim is to educate and provide an environment for youths and tourists to experience life on Mars.

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:

Mission to Phobos by Ludovic Celle

Picture of the Day 30/7/2019 - Spacecraft approaching the largest and closest of the two [asteroid size] Martian moons - Phobos - by French graphic artist Ludovic Celle. More of his Mars art here.

Mars rover returning to lander by Jaroslaw Marcinek

Picture of the Day 13/7/2019 - Mars rover returning to a lander by Polish freelance illustrator Jaroslaw Marcinek. More of his art here.

Mars exploration rover by Sergii Golotovskiy

Picture of the Day 21/6/2019 - Mars exploration rover in a sandstorm by Polish concept artist Sergii Golotovskiy. More of his art here.

Mars exploration rover and drones by Paul Canavan

Picture of the Day 16/6/2019 - Painting of Mars exploration rover and drones by British fantasy artist Paul Canavan. More of his art here.

SpaceX. Raising the bar!

"Do it", as Elon Musk bluntly replied to the bragging of Boeing's CEO about "beating Elon Musk to Mars" 😁

These days SpaceX is the leading NewSpace company developing innovative and cost-effective rocket/space technologies and beating all the "space dinosaurs" in the field. Its ultimate goal is to colonize Mars. In the spirit of this reality Instagram user starjet_pilot has made this retro style poster (recalling the iconic photography of US soldiers raising the flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal) of starmen raising the flag of SpaceX on Mars with the Starship in the background.

China's C-Space Mars simulation base in Gobi desert

On April 17, 2019 China opened it's second Mars simulation base - C-Space Project, located in the Gobi Desert 40km from Jinchang, northwest Gansu Province. Its aim is to educate and provide an environment for youths and tourists to experience life on Mars. The facility consists of several interconnected modules including a domed greenhouse, living quarters, a control room and a mock decompression chamber. It is developed by a private company C-Space and will be heavily focused on tourism, with additional investment and development of the surrounding area hoping to attract two million visitors a year by 2030.

Apparently China has serious plans to inspire its population about human colonization of Mars, as only a month ago it opened its first Mars simulation base - Mars Camp, located in a high-altitude desert - the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province.

Here is a collection of photos from the base by Reuters, AFP, EPA & East News:

Mars rover concept by Jort van Welbergen

Picture of the Day 31/3/2019 - Mars rover concept by Dutch concept designer Jort van Welbergen for upcoming massively multiplayer online (MMO) game Star Citizen. More of his concept art here.

China's Mars Camp in Qaidam Basin, Qinghai Province

On March 1, 2019 China opened its first Mars analog research station - Mars Camp, located in a cold high-altitude desert - the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province. It's already the most ambitious Mars simulation station built, costing about $22 million. Covering an area of 53,330 square meters, the base can accommodate 60 people in its capsules and hundreds in the base's tents.

"The red rock area in the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai has been called the most "Martian" place on Earth, with its natural features, landscape and climate all similar to those on the red planet, said Gao Junling, the project founder. The temperatures here vary greatly between day and night, similar to those on Mars, according to Gao. He said that participants could immerse themselves in the environment and try to solve problems they might face on Mars, such as planting potatoes on Mars for food supply and solar power generation."

As information in Western media about this base is quite scarce and photos even scarcer we collected all the best photos here. Most of them are from this blog post (in Chinese).

Mars truck by Pat Presley

Picture of the Day 10/3/2019 - Mars truck by American concept artist Pat Presley. More of his art here.

The truck on the move, accompanied by a pair of speeders:

D-Mars mission habitat in southern Israel

Astronauts returning to D-Mars mission habitat in southern Israel; photo by Niamh Shaw. D-Mars (Desert Mars Analog Ramon Station) is Israel's 1st Mars analog research station similar to Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, US where astronauts, scientists and space enthusiasts can train for future human missions to Mars.

The station is located in a desolate area in Israel’s Negev Desert near the 200 million-year-old, 25-mile-wide Ramon Crater. Although not an impact crater, but a rare form of erosion structures, it has a resemblance to a variety of terrain types relevant to Mars exploration. The surrounding area hosts many similarities to the Martian environment in its geology, aridity and isolation.

SpaceX explorers digging out Opportunity by Leonhard Loacker

Picture of the Day 25/2/2019 - Drawing of future SpaceX explorers digging out NASA's Opportunity rover on Mars by young Austrian artist Leonhard Loacker. More of his art on his Instagram profile.