SpaceX signs partnership with Italy for Mars exploration
SpaceX, the company of American billionaire Elon Musk, has signed a partnership with the Italian Space Agency to deliver scientific tools to Mars, the two sides announced this evening.
“Italy will fly to Mars,” wrote the head of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Teodoro Valente, on social media platform X, adding that the agreements should allow “the transport of Italian experiments during the first commercial Starship flights to Mars.”
The mega-rocket developed by SpaceX for travel to the Moon and Mars is still under development, and its most recent test flights earlier this year ended with major explosions.
Elon Musk, who aims to “colonize Mars” and is known for his highly optimistic forecasts, still expects the first launches as early as 2026.
“All aboard the spaceship! We’re going to Mars! SpaceX now offers its Starship services to the Red Planet,” wrote SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell on X, welcoming the partnership signed with Italy, reports Danas.
Musk, who was very close to U.S. President Donald Trump, developed a personal relationship with the head of Italy’s ultraconservative government, Giorgia Meloni, while publicly supporting other far-right parties in Europe.
The proposed cybersecurity agreement between Rome and SpaceX was fiercely criticized earlier this year by the Italian opposition.
