SpaceX Starship launching from Mars Base Alpha

In yesterdays SpaceX's Starship update Elon Musk teased a new concept image of Starship launching from Mars Base Alpha (1st image). The new design of the Starship was also included into an older concept image of Mars Base Alpha and posted on SpaceX's Twitter account (2nd image). Open link in new tab to view image in full resolution.

Slides from SpaceX Starship 2019 update presentation by Elon Musk

Today SpaceX CEO and lead designer Elon Musk provided an update of SpaceX's Starship design. Here are slides and animations from his presentation (open link in new tab to view image in full resolution).

Basic info about the new Starship:

Layout of Starship Raptor engines:

Super Heavy booster layout:

Starship comparison with Starhopper and Millennium Falcon:

SpaceX Starship old design vs. the new one by Kimi Talvitie

Following the development of SpaceX's Starship Mk 1 prototype at company's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, Finnish 3D artist Kimi Talvitie has made a model comparison of Starship's old 3 fin/leg design (on left) vs. the possible new one with 2 rear fins and 6 separate landing legs (on right). More of Kimi's art on his Twitter account.

Elon Musk will present Starship's new design on September 28 at Boca Chica.

He has also made an animation of the possible new design:

Possible SpaceX Starship Mk 1 propellant tank layout by Michel Lamontagne

SpaceX's Starship Mk 1 prototype, being built at company's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, is seeing some rapid development in recent days (prior to Elon Musk's promised update on September 28). New hardware is being attached to the prototype and we can start some educated guesses of the final Starship Mk 1 design which will differ quite substantially from the Starship renders SpaceX provided as recently as in May.

Canadian design engineer Michel Lamontagne has posted his speculative graphics of the possible Starship Mk 1 propellant tank and fin layout on NASASpaceFlight.com forum (where he is known as lamontagne). More of his spaceship renderings here.

Images from the construction site indicate the header tanks (meant for propellant needed for landing) are installed into the front cone of Starship Mk 1:

SpaceX Starship over Mars by Mack Crawford

Digital artist Mack Crawford (brickmack), known for his stunning rocket animations, has made his last render of SpaceX's TinTin-style Starship (flying with deployed solar panels over Mars) as it seems the actual Starship built in Texas & Florida and waiting to be presented by Elon Musk on September 28 will have different shape. More of Mack's space concept art here.

Possible cover for SpaceX Starship Mk 1 flap hinges spotted

Seeing most recent hardware delivered at SpaceX's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, where the Starship Mk 1 prototype is being built, Reddit user u/avibat is speculating that the new hardware is stainless steel cover for Starship's fin hinges to protect them during re-entry into atmosphere. One of the hinges has already been attached to the main body of Starship (spotted by BocaChicaGal from NASASpaceFlight.com forum) and right now they are attaching the fin to it (the process can be watched online through LabPadre's 24/7 live stream).

Fin hinge Pipe attached to one side of Starship Mk 1 (photo by BocaChicaGal):

Attaching first fin to SpaceX's Starship Mk1 (photo by BocaChicaGal):

New cinematic trailer for Occupy Mars simulation game released

The Martian frontier is yours in Occupy Mars - the upcoming (as of today: Coming soon) highly technical open world simulation game about Mars colonization from Polish indie game developer Pyramid Games. In the game you will be able to "build and upgrade your base, discover new amazing regions, conduct mining operations, retrieve water and generate oxygen, grow crops, fix broken parts, learn how to survive on Mars!"

Here is the newest cinematic trailer of the game and beautiful HD images from it. Note the SpaceX's Starman style spacesuit and ITS v2016 Starship.

SpaceX ITS v2016 Starship landing at Mars base:

Assembling Mars base module by module:

Astronaut planting a tree in Mars biodome:

Mars base layout:

SpaceX Starship landing at Mars base by Colin Doublier

Picture of the Day 13/9/2019 - Sketch of SpaceX's Starship landing at Mars base by French urban artist Colin Doublier. More of his art here. Note the rover from The Martian and 3D-printed habitats by Hassell & EOC and AI SpaceFactory in the scene.

Speculative internal structure of SpaceX Starship by William Falconer-Beach

William Falconer-Beach, a young graphic designer from New Zealand, has made several renders with possible internal structure of SpaceX's Starship. More of his Starship renders here.

Note this is only a speculation by artist. Hopefully we will see some information about Starship's internal layout in Elon Musk's presentation on September 28.

Starship's crew section:

B&W SpaceX Starship renders by Brandon Bolleber

Three black & white SpaceX's Starship renders by American motion & 3D graphics designer Brandon Bolleber. More of his art here.

Candidate sites for SpaceX Starship Mars landings revealed

[on September 2 info & map updated with additional two possible landing sites]

Robert Zimmerman from BehindTheBlack.com has found several images labelled as "Candidate Landing Site for SpaceX Starship [..]" in the latest data release from University of Arizona's HiRISE camera (aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). It means that with help from NASA SpaceX is already quietly evaluating the best place where to land first Starships on Mars. Here are direct links to HiRISE image of: Site 1, Site 2, Site 3, Site 4, Site 5 (in Arcadia Planitia) & Site 6 (in Phlegra Montes).

For several years it hasn't been a secret SpaceX is considering four Martian regions for landings: Deuteronilus Mensae, Phlegra Montes, Utopia Planitia and southern Arcadia Planitia. But even in 2017 southern Arcadia Planitia looked "more promising", according to Paul Wooster, Principal Mars Development Engineer at SpaceX. So by now SpaceX may very well be down to evaluating more precise landing sites in that region.

All the candidate landing sites (except #6 in Phlegra Montes) are located on the border between Amazonis Planitia and Arcadia Planitia. According to latest data, Arcadia Planitia is one of the few regions where abundant shallow ice is present at relatively low latitudes. There is strong evidence that this location holds buried ice glaciers. So it has two critical elements looked by SpaceX for its Mars Base Alpha: solar energy and water. Those are critical not only for life support but also for refueling Starships. It's also in low altitude meaning a bit higher air pressure than in higher areas on Mars; that is beneficial for radiation protection and creates more atmospheric drag during the landing.

We made a map of all of the candidate sites:

SpaceX Starship visiting Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway by Colin Doublier

Picture of the Day 25/8/2019 - Sketch of SpaceX's Starship visiting NASA's future Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway by French urban artist Colin Doublier. More of his art here.

Speculations on SpaceX's Starship new fin configuration

Seeing most recent hardware delivered at SpaceX's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, where the Starship Mk 1 prototype is being built, Reddit user u/ModeHopper has done some pretty impressive pixel-counting & calculations, speculating that the new hardware is Starship's rear fin or its part. And William Falconer-Beach has already made some renders with several possible configurations of the new fins. More of his Starship renders here.

Speculative internal layout of SpaceX Starship by Michel Lamontagne

In the result of a discussion on NASASpaceFlight.com forum about possible internal layout of SpaceX's first crewed Starship bound for Mars Canadian design engineer Michel Lamontagne (on the forum known as lamontagne) has came up with graphics of his version for Starship's possible internal layout. More of his spaceship renderings here.

Observation / galley deck:

Cutaway diagram of SpaceX Starship

Unofficial cutaway diagram (in German, look for text translation in English here) of SpaceX's Starship by German illustrator Julian Schindler. More of his art here. Starship & Super Heavy is a fully reusable two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle and spacecraft currently developed by leading NewSpace company SpaceX. On August 24 mid-September SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk will make a presentation of the current status of Starship development.

SpaceX stainless steel Starship prototype by Owen Egan

Concept render of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship prototype by British graphic designer Owen Egan (known on NASASpaceFlight.com forum as "tea monster"). More of his art here.

SpaceX has already built the first prototype Starship test vehicle (Starhopper) without any nose cone at its Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, mated it with a single Raptor engine and conducted several hop test. Starhopper lifted up for about 20 meters in the last test. Simultaneously SpaceX is already building two next generation test vehicles – Starship Mk 1 in Boca Chica and Starship Mk 2 in Cocoa, Florida. Mk 1 will fly up to an altitude of 20 kilometers in a few months.

Next phase of SpaceX Starship test program - sketch by Colin Doublier

Last night SpaceX's Starship test vehicle - the Starhopper - performed its first untethered hop about 20m high. In 2 weeks Starhopper will perform a much higher hop of about 200m, but in a few months the Starship test program will move to the next phase - flights as high as 20 km. For it SpaceX is already simultaneously building two Starship prototypes in Boca Chica, Texas and Cocoa, Florida - Starship Mk 1 & Starship Mk 2 respectively. Those prototypes initially will have three Raptor engines (Starhopper has only one).

Here is a sketch of Starship Mk 1 lifting up by French urban artist Colin Doublier. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship in high Lunar orbit by William Falconer-Beach

Picture of the Day 24/7/2019 - SpaceX's Starship in high Lunar orbit by William Falconer-Beach. More of his Starship renders here.

SpaceX #dearMoon Starship orbiting the Moon

Official renders of SpaceX #dearMoon Starship orbiting the Moon from #dearMoon Instagram profile.

Artist flying in zero-G inside the Starship:

60 year challenge for humanity: 1969 - Moon, 2029 - Mars

Today 50 years ago first humans - 2 out of 3 Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin - landed on the Moon. But since then the advancement of human space exploration has been slow. It changed only in recent years with the rise of private space companies, especially SpaceX with its determined focus on rocket reusability and colonization of Mars. Now we have a real chance to land first humans on Mars as soon as 10 years from now, maybe even sooner.