China's Mars Camp in Qaidam Basin, Qinghai Province

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).

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:

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.

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.

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 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.

SpaceX Starship on a landing pad on Mars by Charlie Burgess

Picture of the Day 28/2/2019 - SpaceX's stainless steel Starship on a landing pad on Mars by British digital artist Charlie Burgess. More of his art here.

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.

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).

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.