Elon Musk’s SpaceX has signed a new agreement to transport Italian scientific experiments aboard its Starship megarocket on upcoming Mars missions, as announced Thursday.
“Italy is heading to Mars!” said Teodoro Valente, president of the Italian Space Agency, in a post on X. He noted that the experiments will be part of the first Starship missions to the red planet that include paying customers.
While Musk envisions using Starship to establish a human presence on Mars, the rocket has faced multiple setbacks, with several test flights ending in dramatic explosions.
Despite multiple delays, Elon Musk—known for his ambitious timelines—still insists that Starship’s first launches will happen next year.
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SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell announced the “first-of-its-kind” partnership with the Italian Space Agency and hinted at further collaborations. “Get on board! We are going to Mars! SpaceX is now offering Starship services to the red planet,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Musk, the world’s richest man and a former advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, has developed close ties with Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Earlier this year, a proposed cybersecurity agreement between the Italian government and Musk’s satellite company Starlink drew strong criticism from opposition parties.
In June, a Starship rocket exploded during a routine ground test, completely destroying the vehicle.
At 403 feet (123 meters) tall, Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. It’s designed to be fully reusable and capable of carrying up to 150 metric tons of cargo.
Read the original article on: Phys.Org
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