NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launch

Today, July 30, at 7:50 AM (EDT) NASA will launch its next generation Mars 2020 Perseverance rover to Mars. The rover will land on Mars on February 18, 2021 in Jazero Crater (Western Isidis Planitia) to collect samples for later retrieval; the rover will be accompanied by a small reconnaissance drone-helicopter Ingenuity.

Here you can watch NASA's livestream of the launch:

The Perseverance is a twin rover of the Curiosity rover (working on Mars since 2012) with some upgrades:

Overview of the Perseverance scientific instruments:

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.

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:

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.

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.

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:

Mars colony city by Bill Wright

Picture of the Day 6/3/2019 - Mars colony city under a dome by American retro space artist Bill Wright. More of his art here.

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.

Mars base by Carles Marsal

Images of an early human base on Mars by Spanish digital artist Carles Marsal. More of his art here.

Full image of the base:

Hovering Porsche 911 on Mars by Chris Labrooy

Picture of the Day 12/2/2019 - Hovering Porsche 911 on Mars by British design artist Chris Labrooy. More of his art here.

Another view from rear with a small Martian outpost visible:

Heavy Mars trucks by Blackbird Interactive

Picture of the Day 9/2/2019 - painting of heavy-duty Mars trucks by Canadian game developer Blackbird Interactive (Brennan Massicotte) for its "Project Eagle" - a 3D interactive Mars base free to play on Steam and developed in collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The interactive base is intended as NASA's vision of what a human base on Mars would look like in 100 years. Here are HD images from the project.

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SpaceX spaceport on Mars by Mike Winkelmann (beeple)

Picture of the Day 20/1/2019 - vision of a futuristic SpaceX spaceport on Mars by digital fantasy artist Mike Winkelmann, better known as beeple. More of his art here.

(Open link in new tab to view ⇩ in full resolution)

Retro style Mars rover by David A. Hardy

Picture of the Day 11/1/2019 - a small ATV type, retro style Mars rover in front of NASA's lander (1981) by classical space artist David A. Hardy. More of his Mars art here.

Images from NatGeo's MARS episode 6 of season 2

Sixth episode "The Shake Up" ( s02e06 ) of National Geographic's MARS TV series season 2 has been aired. Here are some images from the episode.

Storyline in short: Using explosives, miners from Lukrum colony finally get to an underground water aquifer. But water is under pressure and causes a severe earthquake, damaging Olympus Town but completely destroying Lukrum colony, leaving a dozen miners dead. While inspecting his ruined base the commander of Lukrum colony is killed in an accident. The season ends on a positive note - Earth is introduced with the first child born on Mars and Olympus Town is repaired and is open for future expansion.

Images from other episodes of season 2: ► Episode 1  ► Episode 2  ► Episode 3  ► Episode 4  ► Episode 5

Images from NatGeo's MARS episode 5 of season 2

Fifth episode "Power Play" ( s02e05 ) of National Geographic's MARS TV series season 2 has been aired. Here are some images from the episode.

► Watch full episode 5 of season 2 here

Storyline in short: Miners from Lukrum colony are prospecting for resources and require additional power from Olympus Town. Meanwhile on Earth Lukrum Industries struck deal with Russia to get exclusive mining rights on Mars. While Olympus Town's commander is inspecting potential water site her deputy cuts power to Lukrum colony causing power outage there and nearly killing some of the miners.

Images from other episodes of season 2: ► Episode 1  ► Episode 2  ► Episode 3  ► Episode 4  ► Episode 6

Images from NatGeo's MARS episode 3 of season 2

Third episode "Darkness falls" ( s02e03 ) of National Geographic's MARS TV series season 2 has been aired today. Here are some images from the episode.

► Watch full episode 3 of season 2 here

Storyline in short: Massive solar flare knocks out electrical grid and communications on Mars in time when one of the scientists is taking samples from Lukrum's water drilling site on her own, without informing anyone. Miners from Lukrum colony rescue her life, thus restoring relations between the two settlements.

Images from other episodes of season 2: ► Episode 1  ► Episode 2  ► Episode 4  ► Episode 5  ► Episode 6

Racing on Mars in Star Citizen MMO game

Picture of the Day 25/11/2018 - racing on Mars; an image from upcoming massively multiplayer online (MMO) game Star Citizen which will consist of several components - space combat simulator, first-person shooter and economy&trading simulator - and is mostly 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; there is a good outside video review what is the current status of the game by the end of 2018.

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