Renders of SpaceX Starship SN8 launch, landing and mid-flight by Bart Caldwell

American space artist Bart Caldwell, known on Twitter as Neopork, recently has created some of the best and most detailed renders of SpaceX's Starship. His renders looks almost as actual photos. Here are his renders of Starship SN8 test vehicle in launch, landing and mid-flight configuration in the sky above Boca Chica, Texas.

The first two are created as mobile wallpapers. You can download them in even higher resolution here.

SpaceX Starship SN8 belly flop maneuver by Bart Caldwell

Picture of the Day 10/10/2020 - SpaceX's Starship SN8 test vehicle performing its "skydiver" belly flop maneuver in the sky above Boca Chica, Texas by American space artist Bart Caldwell, known on Twitter as Neopork. The render is so detailed that it looks almost as an actual photo!

SpaceX Starship at NASA Artemis Base Camp by ICON

NASA has announced it is working with Texas-based 3D printed construction startup ICON "on early research and development of a space-based construction system that could support future exploration of the Moon and Mars. The company has 3D printed communities of homes and structures on Earth and participated in NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, demonstrating a construction method and technologies that may be adaptable for applications beyond our home planet." Both NASA and US Air Force have invested in company's technologies via Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.

NASA is working, via its Artemis program, to establish a long-term human presence on and around the Moon by the end of the 2020s. Construction and expansion of Artemis Base Camp will require extensive use of lunar resources, including water ice (for life support and rocket fuel) and moon dirt (for building materials).

To accomplish goals of the SBIR contract ICON has teamed up with space design studio SEArch+ and Danish architecture firm BIG in Project Olympus to develop robotic construction concept for NASA's Artemis Base Camp. Here are several conceptual illustrations from the project.

First one depicts a spaceport featuring several 3D printed landing pads and roads, SpaceX's Starship in one of the pads and Blue Origin's Lunar lander with ICON's 3D printer landing in another:

Closeup of illustration's central part:

Here are illustrations of 3D printed habitats:

SpaceX Mars Base Alpha concept by Sotiris

Here is a concept of SpaceX's early Mars Base Alpha by Twitter user Sotiris. The concept features a pair of crew Starships with Falcon 9 style landing legs, several pressurized Mars Cybertrucks, The Boring Company's tunnel boring machine and 3-level habitation modules derived from used Starship propellant tanks and connected in pairs (a questionable idea, we think).

Cutaway of the habitation module:

Short film: honeymoon trip to the Moon with SpaceX Starship

Two brothers from DeepSpaceCourier have created an animated short film of a newly married couple taking their honeymoon trip to the Moon with SpaceX's Starship. The short film starts with the couple boarding Starship Super Heavy at ocean launch platform; Starship is launched to the Moon and after a few days voyage docks to Lunar Gateway; there the couple switches to a Lunar Starship and lands on the surface of the Moon.

Some images from the short film in chronological order:

SpaceX orbital shuttle concept by Rodrigo Magro

SpaceX is developing its Starship Super Heavy two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle for interplanetary flights. But, if you would need a flight only between the surface of Mars, Moon or other similar planetary body and its orbit, you could do it by less powerful spacecraft - an orbital shuttle.

Here is a concept of such spacecraft, called SpaceX Starflight, by Spanish transportation designer Rodrigo Magro. The orbital shuttle would have a lifting-body shape with thermal shield on the windward side, two forward winglets as Starship, four lower fins with landing legs and solar panels, large panoramic window and hypergolic auxiliary engines for landing on the Moon and other smaller planetary bodies.

SpaceX Starship fleet landing on Mars - video animation by Roger Bootsma

Video animation with SpaceX's Starship fleet consisting of one crew Starship and four cargo Starships landing on Mars by Austrian 3D environment artist Roger Bootsma. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship SN5 150m hop

On August 4, 2020 SpaceX's prototype Starship SN5 successfully performed 150 meter hop with one Raptor Engine at SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.

Starship Super Heavy is a fully reusable two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle and spacecraft currently developed by leading New Space company SpaceX.

Space illustrator Tony Bela captured the path of the flight in the sky from LabPadre's Sapphire Cam:

SpaceX Starship fleet orbiting Earth by Dale Rutherford

Picture of the Day 29/7/2020 - SpaceX's Starship fleet consisting of several crew and cargo Starships orbiting Earth and preparing to depart for Mars by Scottish photographer & designer Dale Rutherford. More of his art here.

How SpaceX Mars Colony could look like in a few decades

Polish 3D artist Andrzej Pawelec has created his concept how SpaceX's Mars Colony could look like in a few decades with thousands of inhabitants. Here is detailed animation and drawings of his concept:

Cutaway diagram of SpaceX Lunar Starship

Unofficial cutaway diagram of SpaceX's Lunar Starship interior by Rocket Posters. The Lunar Starship is lunar optimized version (for NASA's Artemis program) of the fully reusable super heavy-lift spacecraft - Starship - currently developed by leading NewSpace company SpaceX.

SpaceX orbital station above terraformed Mars by Encho Enchev

Picture of the Day 29/6/2020 - Concept art for SpaceX's orbital station above partly terraformed Mars by Encho Enchev from Ubisoft. More of his concept art here.

SpaceX Starships at Mars Base Alpha by Konstantin Ermolaev

CG creator Konstantin Ermolaev has created his vision of SpaceX's early Mars Base Alpha in a Martian crater. Here are several of his renders with three Starships landed at the base. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship on Mars by Dale Rutherford

SpaceX's Starship on Mars by Scottish photographer & designer Dale Rutherford. More of his art here.

Starship approaching Mars:

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.

SpaceX 18m Starship vs 12m Starship (ITS) vs 9m Starship

Three sizes of SpaceX's Starship side by side by Scottish photographer & designer Dale Rutherford:

• 18m diameter Starship hinted by Elon Musk as the possible next generation Starship (in artist's vision it's not supposed to land on planets so no fins and legs);
• 12m diameter Starship version (ITS) presented in 2016;
• 9m diameter current Starship design.

Elon Musk with his youngest son X Æ A-12 at Mars Base Alpha

“Dad, what was it like to be confined indoors?”
“It doesn't matter son, now we have the whole universe to ourselves”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk with his youngest son X Æ A-12 at Mars Base Alpha by Indian space artist Eashan Misra in collaboration with Eli Burton, known as Real Life Starman. Note the Tesla Supercharger station on the left side.

Boarding SpaceX Starship by Roger Bootsma

Video animation of a boarding walkway to SpaceX's Starship by Austrian 3D environment artist Roger Bootsma. More of his art here.

SpaceX Starship on launch pad by Gravitation Innovation

Picture of the Day 9/5/2020 - SpaceX's full stack Starship Super Heavy on launch pad on Earth by Gravitation Innovation.

NASA selects SpaceX's lunar optimized Starship for Artemis program

Today NASA announced that three US companies - SpaceX, Blue Origin & Dynetics - will develop the human landers that will land astronauts on the Moon beginning in 2024 as part of the Artemis program. And SpaceX shared some renders of the "lunar optimized Starship" which is developed "to transport crew between lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon". SpaceX added that "a lunar optimized Starship can fly many times between the surface of the Moon and lunar orbit without flaps or heat shielding required for Earth return. With large habitable and storage volume, Starship is capable of delivering significant amounts of cargo for research and to support robust operations on the lunar surface to enable a sustainable Moon base."