Starship to launch commercial Italian payloads to Mars!
The Italian Space Agency (ASI) and SpaceX have signed a first-of-its-kind contract to launch payloads to Mars aboard Starship, making Italy the first nation to do so. Here’s what we know:
Unprecedented partnership
In the first hours of the afternoon, ASI president Teodoro Valente announced the groundbreaking agreement via a post on X, highlighting how this is a great step forward for Mars exploration, putting Italy at the forefront of it.
This was reposted and commented on by Adolfo Urso, Italy’s business minister, and Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO of SpaceX: “SpaceX is now offering Starship services to the red planet”, Shotwell said. “We’re excited to work with the Italian Space Agency on this first-of-its-kind agreement.”
“The MadeinItaly on Mars!” Urso added. “A result that confirms, yet again, our strategy to reinforce the national industry, valorizing the Italian talent and consolidating the presence of our nation in the great space exploration programs.”
This partnership is important because it marks the first time that another nation, or entity whatsoever, has signed a contract to fly experiments and scientific instruments on a Mars-bound Starship. This will strengthen Italy’s relationship with SpaceX, putting them among the best partners for future Mars exploration and giving lots of opportunities for flying science and, one day, humans to Mars!
Scientific experiments
The exact numbers and descriptions of the scientific experiments are unknown, but we know for a fact that they will be present on multiple missions and will work during the months-long trip to Mars and on its surface, pending a successful landing. Among the experiments that will fly on Starship, there’s a plant growth experiment, a weather monitoring station, and a radiation sensor. While the agencies have not yet revealed descriptions of the experiments, we can make some speculation on what they will measure (keep in mind the following description is just speculation, aimed at giving you more information as to what you can expect these instruments will measure):
Plant growth experiment: this experiment will obviously monitor how plants grow in different environments, and it may include growing plants inside Starship during the trip to Mars or during its stay on the surface. It may serve the purpose of increasing our knowledge of how plants grow in deep space under different conditions, or how they grow in a Martian environment.
Weather monitoring station: the press release by ASI specifically mentioned “station,” which makes me think it will not be a single instrument but rather a suite of instruments that will measure the weather on the Martian surface. Data collected might include winds, temperature, and humidity to inform future astronauts and explorers of the conditions they will encounter by living and working on Mars.
Radiation sensor: this instrument will measure radiation during the trip to Mars and on its surface, informing how much radiation future explorers will have to endure and what countermeasures may be taken.
Launch dates
No launch dates were announced, nor any timeline for payload readiness. But we do know a few things:
Render showing the first landings on Mars. Credit: SpaceX
The day prior to the agreement, Elon Musk tweeted there’s a slight chance of making the next Mars window, which will take place during November/December 2026, in a year and a half. He said many things would have to go right, and Monte Carlo simulations run after Ship 36’s explosion give SpaceX a 36% chance of succeeding in sending them.
Should they miss this window, the next one will be between the end of 2028 and the start of 2029, after 26 months. Now, whether they make this window or the next, SpaceX has already laid out plans for the first Starships to go to Mars: there will be 5, carrying about 10 t of payload per Ship, which will include Optimus robots to conduct operations and possibly other payloads (such as ASI’s). The goal for this first batch of Starships is to prove they can get to Mars, send minimum viable vehicles to maximize learning, and demonstrate key technologies for transit and landing, which aligns with sending payloads to learn about the environment.
Schedule for SpaceX’s Mars exploration plans. Credit: SpaceX
In the end, this contract marked the start of a journey… a journey that will see countless companies and nations race to launch science and people on Mars through Starship. This is not only a contract, it’s a recognition to the Starship program, a slap in the face of everyone dooming and saying that there’s no viable future for it… well, there is, and we’re starting to find out.
This contract will put Italy at the forefront of Mars exploration and strengthen our leadership with SpaceX, allowing us to launch even more science and people to the red planet.
Italian: Da italiano, per quanto ami Starship, l’ho sempre vista come un obiettivo lontano, un veicolo di un altro mondo e fuori portata. Ma il contratto di oggi mi ha dato speranza, felicità, fierezza, e la realizzazione che Starship non è solo il razzo di SpaceX, è il razzo dell’umanità. Ed è così che vedo gli eventi di oggi: come un passo avanti per tutta l’umanità.
VERSO MARTE!
English: as an Italian, as much as I love Starship, I’ve always seen it as a faraway goal, a vehicle from another world out of reach. But today’s contract gave me hope, happiness, proudness, and the realization that Starship is not just SpaceX’s rocket, it’s humanity’s rocket. And I see today’s events like this: as a step forward for all mankind.
TO MARS!
