Say hello to Outlander, the red planet’s first “MTV”, or Mars Terrain Veloce. Designed by Seongho Kim, the Outlander aims at being the one definitive vehicle to help you conquer the red planet’s inhospitable terrain. The three-wheeled format gives the Outlander a great balance between maneuverability and weight, and a 3D-printed metal chassis, coupled with CO2 blasters and airless tires allows the rider to effortlessly navigate Mars’ undulating surface without any hiccups whatsoever.
Designer: Seongho Kim
It’s entirely conceivable that we’re probably going to see a manned mission to Mars in our lifetime, and if we intend on inhabiting the planet, we need to be able to explore it too. That’s where the Outlander comes in, helping you effectively do a ground mission on the planet’s uneven surface without requiring any complex vehicular assistance. The Outlander is practically the ATV’s distant cousin, optimized for a foreign environment.
The single-seater trike combines a compact and lightweight structure with a capable design that maximizes fun and minimizes failure. The two tires on the front are perfect for being able to adeptly navigate undulating land, while LiDAR sensor between them helps the Outlander understand the road ahead. A set of CO2 canisters right underneath the rider fire when the ‘MTV’ needs vertical lift, giving the vehicle an upward push to help it climb and jump higher. Meanwhile, cleverly engineered airless tires absorb any sort of rough impact without bursting or crumbling like conventional tires and wheels.
The entire trike has an otherwise skeletal design from head to wheel. Carbon fiber and 3D-printed metal parts help give the trike its sturdiness and lightweight structure, and a cargo unit right between the rider’s legs lets them carry important equipment from A to B. Under the cargo hatch sits the Outlander’s battery unit, which supplies power to the rear-wheel motor.
Keeping track of time is a purely human construct that was first invented based on the movement of heavenly bodies. We have since then refined our clocks, of course, but they all still use the Earth as the frame of reference. That won’t do us much good when we start living on other planets, but thankfully we’re just at the cusp of our stellar colonization ambitions. In fact, we just landed our most ambitious attempt at studying our closest planetary neighbor Mars last year, a feat that is sure be highlighted in science and history books in years to come. While there are many new products that celebrate and commemorate that momentous occasion, nothing probably comes closer than a watch blessed by NASA that contains within it dust from the Red Planet and proofs of man’s tenacious nature to persevere and reach out to space.
On 18th February 2021, the Perseverance rover successfully touched down on Martian soil. It represented humanity’s most ambitious attempt so far to explore our neighbor, searching for clues of life and, more importantly, testing it for future missions and possible colonization. Unsurprisingly, there have been many commemorative products launched since then, but the Interstellar RED3.721 watch definitely takes the cake not just for being approved by NASA but also for being a treasure trove of references to that event, all done tastefully and in a stunningly elegant way.
Number “3,721” – Corresponds to the gravity of the planet observed during NASA mission.
The Red Planet – The dial showcases the pattern and features of Mars.
“7 Minutes of Terror” – The entry, descent, and landing is recognized as the shortest and most intense phase of the Mars 2020 mission.
The Original “Meatball” NASA Logo – This collection has been granted by NASA.
The most obvious is perhaps the historic date that’s engraved at the very top of the watch’s frame, though it is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Scattered on the watch’s surfaces are other clues that space lovers would understand, like the glowing “7 Minutes of Terror” on the 3 o’clock position that honors the seven tense minutes between the Perseverance’s entry into Martian atmosphere and its safe landing on the planet’s soil. On the back of the watch is the Perseverance’s parachute design, which is actually an encoded message that spells “Dare Mighty Things.” Even the name of the watch itself is a tribute to the Red Planet, both in the name as well as the 3.721 figure that corresponds to the planet’s gravity.
Authentic Martian Meteorite – The dust is extracted from a meteorite that has traveled millions of miles to finally crash on earth.
The most direct connection with Mars, however, is the relic housed in that same 3 o’clock position. It contains dust harvested from a Martian meteorite discovered last year in Northwest Africa. Those who opt to claim this one-of-a-kind variant of the NASA x Interstellar RED3.721 watch will be assured of its authenticity with a certificate, not to mention NASA’s authority in this collaboration.
The NASA x Interstellar RED3.721, however, isn’t just a tribute to this historic moment. It is also a handsome watch that combines the best of humanity’s ingenuity and dreams. The watch case, which is either 316L stainless steel or titanium, is colored black to represent the darkness of space. It contrasts nicely with the watch face, which is a 3D relief of Mars’ surface taken from actual scientific data. Although the watch commemorates our work towards the future, the RED3.721 bears classic watch movements, either a Miyota 8215 or a Sellita SW200-1.
The Miyota variant comes in the 316L case and with the original NASA “meatball” logo or you can get the Martian meteorite dust encased watch. Sellita’s movement is housed in titanium. The project has already raised more than $650,000 since it launched in May 2022! Whichever design you claim, you won’t just be putting a beautiful work of horology on your wrist, though you are definitely getting a product of high quality for a very affordable price tag. You will also be carrying a timepiece that represents mankind’s past perseverance, present endeavors, and future hope, all at the same time.
Originally created as places for monks to meditate on Buddha’s teachings, Zen gardens have been miniaturized and available in desktop versions for quite some time now. Just not in interplanetary form, like this Mars Zen Garden available from Uncommon Goods. The desktop meditation garden features a 10″ diameter resin tray, red sand, lava rocks, a tiny astronaut and Sojourner rover, and a rake for making patterns. I am going to have so much fun relaxing and not working!
The copper-finish nickel rake features one end for raking and the other for creating craters from meteorite impacts. How realistic. Of course, if they wanted to make it even more realistic, it should come with some alien mini-figures as well. Stop hiding the truth, NASA!
I remember I had a miniature Zen garden in high school to help calm my nerves from the high stress of youth (little did I know!), but my cat Bill eventually knocked it off my desk, and all the sand got lost in the carpet. I suppose I should just be thankful he didn’t decide to use it as a litter box instead. At least there’s that.
A timepiece that Elon Musk would most certainly try to acquire…
As our species attempts at colonizing Mars in the next few decades, the NASA X Interstellar RED3.721 watch puts a small piece of the red planet on your wrist. Designed by Interstellar with a thumbs up from NASA, the RED3.721 watch honors mankind’s mission to mars, the RED3.721 is the perfect homage to our celestial neighbor. The watch’s face comes with a detailed relief graphic of the planet Mars, along with coordinates of the Jezero crater on which NASA’s Perseverance rover landed. However, its most interesting element lies at the 3 o’clock position in the form of not a date window, but rather a window containing an actual piece of Martian meteorite.
We’ve seen our share of space-inspired watches that pay homage to planets, NASA missions, and human feats in astronomical discovery… but none of them quite match up to how overwhelmingly beautiful the RED3.721 watch is. The watch is a celebration of Mars and our attempts to explore it. The watch chronicles the Perseverance rover’s journey from Earth to Mars. On the watch’s frame, lie engraved the date ‘February 18, 2021’, capturing the day the Perseverance rover touched the surface of Mars. The rover landed on a 28-mile wide crater called Jezero, whose coordinates are etched onto the frame too. Flip the watch over onto its back and the rear comes with artwork of the rover’s parachute, along with the encoded message that read “Dare Mighty Things”. Even the name RED3.721 is an homage to the red planet while the number “3,721” corresponds to the gravity of the planet observed during the NASA mission.
Number “3,721” – Corresponds to the gravity of the planet observed during NASA mission.
The Red Planet – The dial showcases the pattern and features of Mars.
“7 Minutes of Terror” – The entry, descent, and landing is recognized as the shortest and most intense phase of the Mars 2020 mission.
The Original “Meatball” NASA Logo – This collection has been granted by NASA.
In order to let the watch’s face shine, the folks at Interstellar opted for a rather simple, slick watch case made from a choice between 316L stainless steel or titanium, colored black to represent the infinite blackness of space while also letting the red planet stand out (there are even silver, gold, and copper variants). The watch dial comes with a 3D relief pattern of the Mars landscape, made using actual planetary data, along with a glowing binary code around the dial, reading the date of the mission as well as capturing the ‘7 minutes of terror’, a phrase that describes the 7 minutes between the Perseverance entering Mars’ atmosphere, and landing safely within the Jezero crater.
Authentic Martian Meteorite – The dust is extracted from a meteorite that has traveled millions of miles to finally crash on earth.
The most impressive detail about the RED3.721 is obviously the relic sitting at the 3 o’clock position. Interstellar offers a choice between either having the NASA ‘meatball’ logo engraved onto the 3 o’clock window, or incorporating a capsule containing actual meteor dust. The dust comes from a Martian meteorite discovered in 2021 in northwest Africa, supplied by MSG Meteorites. Each watch variant with the meteorite dust will even be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
The RED3.721 watch offers two distinct movements – a Miyota 8215 automatic movement (paired with the 316L case) and a Sellita SW200-1 (encased within the titanium case). Watch enthusiasts can pair their timepiece with either a leather strap or a metal strap (steel or titanium, depending on the case material), and both the Sellita and Miyota variants offer a choice of upgrading your watch to the Mars Dust edition with the meteorite particles encased within the watch. Each watch is rated to be waterproof up to 10 ATM (100 meters) and comes with a sapphire crystal on top, protecting your watch from scratches and regular wear and tear. The RED3.721 starts at $398 for the Miyota with the NASA logo, or $497 to upgrade it to the Mars Dust edition. The Sellita variant encased in titanium (with the Mars Dust) starts at $896. The timepieces begin shipping in November 2022 and come with a 2-year warranty.
Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to live on Mars? Or how living on the Red Planet could actually feel like? Well, to answer your questions, a team led by Hugh Broughton Architects is exploring what our extraterrestrial homes on Mars could look like! Called, ‘Building a Martian House’, the concept was initially spearheaded by artists Ella Good and Nicki Kent, and over the years they pulled in various artists, architects, scientists, and even the public to envision what life on Mars could be like. The concept was then brought to life by Hugh Broughton Architects in partnership with Pearce+ and the artists.
“This project is a place for research and experiments about the future. Using Mars as a lens because of its resource-limited nature helps focus our conversations around what we need and how we want to live,” said Ella and Nicki.
The concept is currently on display at M Shed Square in Bristol, UK. It’s essentially a two-story home that is solar-powered and can withstand the extreme temperatures of outer space. It can provide protection against temperatures averaging -63°C and even cosmic radiations! It’s designed to be a “real-life house”, that you can actually step into and experience. It imagines what living on another planet could actually feel like. It’s a test of what is possible with the technology available today, and how it can be stretched.
The most eye-catching element of the home is its striking gold upper level, which is crafted from pressurized inflatable gold-coated foil. It was designed by specialists from Inflate. Currently, the structure has been inflated with air, (allowing it to be reused) although, on Mars, the walls would be filled with regolith or soil. A hydroponic system will be integrated into the living room of the home, enabling the residents to live and relax in a space surrounded by plants as well as allowing them to follow a healthy green diet.
The lower level of the home will technically be underground, fixed within the planet’s lava tubes, providing complete protection to the residents from the high levels of radiation present on the planet. The basement will include an environmental control room that will feature all the power systems of the structure. It will also host two bedroom pods with a shower, as well as a ‘Martian’ loo, amped with a low-water waste treatment system.
“It is a prototype, intended to challenge people’s perceptions of what life on Mars might be like and to provide a canvas for them to suggest their own ideas to make the house as comfortable and welcoming as possible,” says Hugh Broughton.
The structure is an intriguing glimpse into what life in the future could be like. We could be living atop a sandy Martian landscape, or most probably our grandkids could. But I guess an important question would be – does such a future excite you or terrify you?!
The $9,125 MARS Project ONE Dual Time Zone Watch from Behrens tells the time simultaneously in two different time zones: one on Earth and one on Mars. You know, because it’s always important to know if you’re going to be late for a Martian meeting.
The 42mm watch uses a Swiss Cal.2824 automatic wind movement for its basic time-telling, with rotating Earth and Mars globes on top and bands that show each planet’s timezones. The current date is displayed in the middle, with the day of the week on Each planet shown beneath the globes and the time on each planet underneath that. Of course, it’s hard to tell what part of Mars you’re actually looking at, considering the whole planet looks like a uniform rust ball.
Don’t have $9,000 to spend on a watch just so you can tell what time it is on Mars? Then do what I do and just don’t care what time it is on Mars. What good have those Martians with their big heads and buggy eyes ever done for us anyway?! I bet they’re going to invade – you just wait.
Designed and envisioned by China-based artist ‘LOONGT’, the Tesla Mobile Resort Hotel is more than just a Roadster shot in space. It’s a mammoth-like structure on wheels that cruises along on Mars’ landscape, giving occupants a stunning view of the red planet.
Although purely sci-fi in nature, the Tesla Mobile Resort Hotel does paint a pretty vivid picture of the future. Imagine a building that’s capable of moving around, choosing the most scenic spot to park itself, with a transparent set of cabins on the inside that are always giving the occupants/residents the best views. To reach the hotel in the first place, you first need to make a journey to Mars, and then travel to the crater base where the Tesla Mobile Resort Hotel is parked. Once you’re in the hotel, there are quite a few activities to engage in, both inside and outside the massive vehicle.
The vehicle can be split into 3 separate zones – the entertainment area on the front, featuring a massive revolving restaurant on top, followed by gyms, casinos, and other entertainment areas right below. Underneath that lie pods marked 01, 02, 03, etc. These are rotating vehicles that let you go for on-ground tours on the Martian landscape. Once you’re back from your in-resort or outdoor adventures, retire to your rooms on the moving resort that makes its way to the top of Olympus Mons (the tallest mountain in our entire solar system) for a spectacular view of the sunset. You could also opt for a balloon ride, in a transparent floating pod that detaches from the resort and hovers in the sky above, giving you a spectacular view of the alien planet and what could possibly be the most glorious (and expensive) sunset available to our species!
Living on another planet will be possible someday. It may not happen in our lifetime, but we can do our part for the next generation by preparing well for the possibility. Who knows, we may see that as technology is well advancing by leaps and bounds.
Moon or Mars—where do you want to live? We can’t really say where the best place to live is, but we find it fun and exciting to imagine life in either of the two. You already have the Y3 Space-X Running Shoes for Mars and the Vollebak Mars Gear. Now let’s talk about what vehicle you will be driving. It can be the NASA Bike or the Star Wars-inspired Pandemax or this new project from Astrolab.
The Astrolab FLEX Rover may be available soon as it is currently being developed. It is not just a concept, but a company is already building the FLEX (short Flexible Logistics and Exploration). It doesn’t look like a futuristic or a fancy sports car, but it is designed to transport cargo and humans on the moon or Mars.
The Astrolab FLEX rover is designed for humans to explore the place freely. It can be a rover or a lander, depending on a person’s need anywhere in the solar system. It boasts a modular payload interface that can support intermodal transportation. Astrolab has begun exploring solutions on living and operating on other planets. The company aims to design, build, and run a fleet of rovers someday.
The FLEX rover supports exploration, robotic science, construction, logistics, resource utilization, and human operations on Mars or the moon. It can seat two astronauts on a removable deck and has a deck that can carry 3m³ of cargo. It comes with navigation and hazard detection sensors for semi-autonomous operations. In addition, it has solar panels to keep the vehicle powered.
The wheels are ready for soft soil or the kind found on the moon or Mars. It’s like something we’ve seen in the movies before, but we know it’s really being built this time. As described, it has a versatile design that allows adaptive utility, last-mile cargo delivery, and crew transport in one vehicle.
Astrolab believes in planetary discovery and exploration, and it is something the generation of our children may get to experience. The video above shows that the Astrolab FLEX Rover may be part of that future as a prototype is now fully operational. Chris Hadfield, a retired NASA astronaut, tested the FLEX and shared with us its role in the future.
Hadfield, who is also an advisory board member of Astrolab, said, “it was not only a joy to drive FLEX but also see its size, capability and get an intuitive sense of what this rover can do.” He said equipment needs to change as we transition from the Apollo era to the future when we can live on the moon. “When we settle somewhere, we don’t just need to get people from one place to another, but we need to move hardware, cargo, life support equipment, and more. And it’s all dependent on mobility,” the astronaut also said.
All eyes are on the SpaceX project as earthlings want to colonize Mars someday. We highly doubt it will happen anytime soon, but you know, it may be best to prepare as early as now. By preparation, we mean plan for that house you will live in. You can also start thinking about clothing and footwear.
We don’t think many groups have already thought about fashion for Mars, but we can start. That is what French footwear designer Clement Fernandes has done. He came up with a footwear concept inspired by the SpaceX project. Of course, the pair is only a concept, but the designer thought about the intelligent sneakers that may need to defy gravity.
Designer: Clement Fernandes
Once you’ve set foot on Mars, it may be nice to wear something cool and durable like the 38%_2101 Running Shoes for MARS. The pair is based on the Y-3 running shoes and looks very futuristic. The designer decided to go for the Y-3 because the brand has a futuristic vision.
The 38%_2101 Running Shoes for Mars appear to be out of this world, but the pair is also something we can still wear on Earth. The designer’s process included several other inspirations like aerospace equipment and minimal color units, and a few items with sharp shapes.
The 38 in the name pertains to 38%, which is the percentage of gravity on Mars related to the gravity on Earth. 2101 is the year of the competition as per the designer. The shoes’ upper is made of nylon combined with carbon nanotubes, and the latter is activated by the body’s heat and contract the nylon fibers. This is done so the upper can be adjusted to the size of the feet. Other rubber elements strengthen the upper’s structure so we know the pair is sturdy.
The shoes come with a multi-density EVA structure: high-density for the outsole while the midsole is low-density. The pair appears to not come with shoelaces, so we assume the design is a slip-on. We can also call these the Space-X shoes because the concept pair won’t be imagined if not for the Space-X project.
This particular design was presented a few years ago, but we like that it’s very much relevant these days. Adidas or the Y-3 team should finally consider making the pair a reality now that space tourism has been kicked off. It won’t be long before people are allowed to visit Mars. We believe it will happen someday but yes, maybe not in this lifetime. It may just be fun to imagine and start living as if we’re there on Mars.
Establishing a new human colony on another planet is an opportunity to apply new designs. More importantly, however, it’s also an opportunity to learn from humanity’s past mistakes in building habitats.
Although we have yet to fully conquer the moon or even our oceans, some people are already eyeing Mars as our backup Earth. Of course, the planet is completely uninhabitable in its current state, but there is no shortage of ideas on how to make human life possible on the red planet. Some ideas involve radical terraforming, while others try to limit the changes inside enclosed structures. One concept, in particular, tries not to repeat the sins of the past and make use of Mars’ natural landscape rather than go against it.
Designers: Burak Celik, Naz Kaplan and Zeynep Ege Odabasi.
Of course, we can’t fault our ancestors for not knowing better, but that is also why we have to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes when trying to extend our civilization’s reach to other planets. This architectural design concept doesn’t focus as much on the technologies that will make human, animal, and plant life possible but on making sure we don’t change the face of our new home as we did the old one. In particular, the donut-shaped colony is designed to take advantage of the Martian landscape instead of trying to mold it to our needs.
Genesis v.2, as the prototype is called, is designed to sit on the edge of craters rather than on more level surfaces that may be a rarity on Mars. This has two advantages, one being that the colony could actually protect itself from radiation without having to dig more holes on the already battered face of the planet. It offers an opportunity to start off on the right foot with sustainable structures, ensuring that Mars will survive longer than our Earth.
The design of Genesis v.2, however, is also adjustable and relocatable so that expanding the population doesn’t require establishing another colony. The radius of the ring could be expanded to accommodate more units, for one. If necessary, however, the central production and circulation tower could also be relocated to a different crater that can support an even bigger ring.
On the inside, the predominantly white motif of the housing prototype definitely gives off futuristic vibes, the clean and blemish-free walls contrasting sharply with the red, barren wastelands outside. From the outside, Genesis v.2 ironically looks incomplete, but that’s an intentional design choice to represent and remind us of humanity’s always incomplete knowledge, especially when establishing a colony on an alien planet.
