9.08.2025

Credit: SpaceX

The Italian space agency, ASI, has signed an agreement with SpaceX for an uncrewed mission to Mars aboard one of the company’s Starship rockets.

Announced on 7 August, the agreement includes provisions for several payloads, including a plant growth experiment, a radiation sensor, and a meteorological monitoring station. ASI expects to collect data not only during the mission’s six-month interplanetary cruise but also throughout its time on the Martian surface.

In a social media update, ASI President Teodoro Valente declared, “Italy is going to Mars!” He described the agreement as a “first-of-its-kind” and said it affirmed the country’s continued commitment to “lead in space exploration.”

SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell was equally enthusiastic about the agreement, stating, “Get on board! We are going to Mars! SpaceX is now offering Starship services to the Red Planet.”

To date, SpaceX has not launched any commercial payloads to orbit aboard a Starship rocket, let alone to another planet. Development of the vehicle is still underway, including several test flights of full-scale prototypes of the Starship upper stage and Super Heavy booster. In March, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that the company is targeting the end of next year for Starship’s first mission to Mars.

While Italy’s deal with SpaceX bypasses the European Space Agency, the country has also played a major role in ESA’s own efforts to explore the surface of the Red Planet. The agency is currently targeting a 2028 launch for its ExoMars mission, which will deliver the Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars. Once on the surface, the rover will drill to a depth of two metres in search of preserved organic material.

Italy is the single largest contributor to the ExoMars mission, with the United Kingdom being the second largest. While Italy has not disclosed specific figures, it initially agreed to cover around 40 percent of the mission’s cost when ESA Member States first committed funding in 2007.

Quelle: European Spaceflight LTD