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).
Monday, March 11, 2019
Sunday, March 10, 2019
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:
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Dawn of a new Space Age
Photo of SpaceX's Starhopper at sunset by Jaime Almaguer. The Starhopper (test vehicle of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship) is currently being built in SpaceX's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas and scheduled to fly first test flights in March/April 2019.
Friday, March 8, 2019
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
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.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
SpaceX Starship at Mars Base Alpha by Gravitation Innovation
Picture of the Day 3/3/2019 - SpaceX's stainless steel Starship, Starman and Tesla Roadster at Mars Base Alpha by Gravitation Innovation.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
SpaceX Starship on a landing pad on Mars by Charlie Burgess
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
SpaceX Starship docking to Von Braun Rotating Space Station
Several renders by architect Tim Alatorre (from Domum Architects) of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship docking to Gateway Foundation's proposed Von Braun Rotating Space Station (precursor to its more ambitious Gateway Spaceport) with artificial spin gravity.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Possibly official render of SpaceX stainless steel Starship during Mars entry
Yesterday Elon Musk gave an exclusive interview to Popular Mechanics. The interview is illustrated with several images, one of which is a fresh render of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship during Mars entry. The author of the render is stated to be "SpaceX" (as one more earlier official render from SpaceX).
Monday, February 25, 2019
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.
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