"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.
On March 10 ESA has revealed the first results from ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter orbiting Mars since October 2016. Among the data there is the best map of shallow subsurface water distribution on Mars ever created. The map is made by orbiter's neutron detector FRENDmapping the distribution of hydrogen in the uppermost metre of the planet’s surface. Hydrogen indicates the presence of water, being one of the constituents of the water molecule; it can also indicate water absorbed into the surface, or minerals that were formed in the presence of water.
Yesterday NASA's InSight lander successfully landed on Mars at Elysium Planitia; to celebrate the landing British digital artist Charlie Burgess has created this picture of the probe. More of his art here.
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Steve Burg did part of the concept art for sci-fi blockbuster The Martian (2015); his main focus was the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). Here are some of his images (open link in new tab to view image in full HD resolution):
Escape from Mars (1999) is a TV movie about first human mission to Mars in 2016. Five astronauts are flying with spaceship very similar to the Space Shuttle and the mission is financed by a private corporation setting profit-oriented goals. During the voyage and on Mars they encounter near-catastrophic events but in the end find bacterial life on Mars. Escape from Mars is a low-budget TV movie, having poor special effects and weak camera job, but the acting and script is decent. Here are some images from the movie:
In a few hours at 2017 International Astronautical Conference American aerospace, advanced technologies and defense company Lockheed Martin will give an update to its Mars Base Camp concept. If accepted by NASA the Mars Base Camp would be a manned "Mars-orbiting science laboratory where astronauts can perform real-time scientific exploration, analyze Martian rock and soil samples, and confirm the ideal place to land humans on the surface in the 2030s." The proposed mission would send humans to Mars orbit by 2028 and is "designed to be led by NASA and its international and commercial partners."
Recently Lockheed Martin has released some concept images for the mission (open link in new tab to view in full resolution):
To compete with SpaceX for a viable manned Mars mission concept aerospace heavyweight Lockheed Martinhas presented a Mars lander. It would act as a manned shuttle between proposed Mars Base Camp orbital station and Martian surface.
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Jake Robins from WeMartians Podcast has created a map of possible landing sites for SpaceX's first Red Dragon lander and NASA's Mars 2020 / ESA&Roscosmos's ExoMars rovers.
Red X = crashed/failed landings
Green circle = successful landings
Yellow ? mark = candidate sites for Mars2020/ExoMars
Watch the full season 1 episodes of National Geographic Channel's "Mars" TV series without the geographic restrictions here. The fictional documentary series are depicting the first human mission to Mars, the subsequent building of the first human base on Mars in a lava tube and the further steps for colonization of Mars till the end of 21st century.
Here are some HD images from National Geographic Channel's upcoming "Mars" TV series which will be broadcasted worldwide starting on November 14th. The fictional documentary series will depict the first human mission to Mars, the subsequent building of the first human base on Mars in a lava tube and the further steps for colonization of Mars till the end of 21st century.
Here are also a bunch of trailers and video clips from the upcoming series. Open link in new tab to view in full resolution:
Journey to Space is a 2015 3D documentary which "unveils a new era of unprecedented deep space exploration" presented by Boeing and Toyota. In the ending it features a good animation of NASA's Journey to Mars mission. Here are some HD quality screens of it.
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Picture of the Day 31/7/16 - Concept art for SpaceX's Mars Colonial Transporter by Richard Heidmann from the French chapter of The Mars Society (Association Planète Mars). You can also read his speculations of the possible MCP mission architecture details here.
As the day the SpaceX CEO Elon Musk intends to unveil (at the International Astronautical Congress 26-30 September 2016 in Guadalajara, Mexico) details of its 'Mars Colonial Transporter' (MCT) mission architecture is nearing, we will mostly dedicate our 'Picture of the Day' awards to the fan concept art of the MCT.
In recent months NASA has released some exciting videos visualizing its "Journey to Mars". What is more important - they represent a conceptual shift from Apollo's style approach [every expedition to it's own location] to a more longsighted approach - every expedition to the same one location. At the workshop in October, 2015 NASA officials revealed that "human exploration of Mars is not planned as a single mission, but a series of three to five expeditions, each with a crew of four to six, lasting about 500 Martian days each. All would land in the same exploration zone, or EZ. The plan includes the construction of a surface field station to be located in the center of the exploration." It means that NASA's "Journey to Mars" mission concept has become more friendly to a goal of a permanent human colony on Mars.
In the time we all are waiting for the upcoming sci-fi blockbuster The Martian I decided to watch again and review Red Planet (2000) - a sci-fi movie stared by Val Kilmer and Carrie-Anne Moss with quite similar plot (astronauts trying to survive and get off Mars) as the The Martian but undeservedly low scored by the most critics.
Story
In the first part of 21st century humans have totally polluted Earth and now are remotely trying to terraform Mars to make it a second home for humanity. For 20 years everything seems to be going according to the plan - temperatures on Mars has been raised and dispatched algae has been starting to cover more and more of the planet introducing oxygen in its atmosphere. Suddenly all the algae vanishes and there is no other way but to send a manned mission to find out - why this is happening.
It is year 2056 and a crew of 6 is being sent to Mars aboard the "Mars-1" in the first manned mission to Mars. When they reach the orbit of Mars their ship is struck by a particle burst from an unexpectedly powerful Solar flare. In result the electronics of Mars-1 is fried and fire is spreading through all the ship. 5 of 6 crew members eject the ship with landing module but the only female - ship's captain Bowman (Carrie-Anne Moss) - stays on Mars-1 to save the ship.
