Mars City

24/05/2026

It's official: Starship V3 has entered the chat.
SpaceX launched the most powerful rocket in history on Friday evening, May 22, from a brand new launch pad at Starbase, Texas. This was Flight 12, and the first-ever test of Starship Version 3, a completely redesigned vehicle built to eventually carry crew to the Moon and one day to Mars.
The 408-foot giant roared to life at 6:30 p.m. EDT, and despite losing an engine on both the booster and the upper stage, Starship's Ship 39 still made it to space and splashed down safely in the Indian Ocean as planned. The Super Heavy booster missed its boostback burn and came down in the Gulf of Mexico, not ideal, but expected for a first flight of a new design.
Elon Musk called it "an epic first Starship V3 launch & landing" and said the team "scored a goal for humanity."
The mission tested new heat shield experiments, deployed Starlink simulators, and fired a Raptor engine in space. NASA is watching closely, a crewed Starship is slated to land astronauts on the Moon in 2028.
What do you think, is Starship finally on track?

22/05/2026

Testing the future of space exploration — right here in the Italian Alps.
In the last few days, as part of the Robots for Space (robotsforspace.space), Orizzonti Infiniti and SISEI activities, we ran a real rover test session at the Casnigo mine in Val Seriana, Bergamo, both on the outdoor terrain and deep inside the mine tunnels.
The brilliant PoliSpace team from Politecnico di Milano put their RoverTech rover through its paces in a rocky, dark, unpredictable environment, a perfect simulation environment.
The Casnigo mine is a perfect analog site. Testing here gives us and our industrial partners real, grounded data for the development of Mars City (mars-city.org).
A huge thank you to the entire PoliSpace team:
Alberto Bellandi · Michele Baroni · Luca Attorrese · Luigi Zito · Mattia Bonanoni · Cesare Borsi · Giulio Mastromartino · Emanuele Sormani · Sara Ghilardini · Tommaso Sibilia

And a special thanks to Fabio Zanoletti for his essential support on site.

The next frontier is not far away. It's here, in Val Seriana.

17/05/2026

These images of Mars will stop you in your tracks.

Europe's Mars Express orbiter has just released breathtaking new photos of Shalbatana Vallis, a vast channel system stretching 800 miles across the Martian surface, carved by catastrophic floods that roared across the Red Planet around 3.5 billion years ago.

The images reveal what scientists call "chaotic terrain": enormous fractured blocks of rock formed when underground ice melted and the ground above simply collapsed. Alongside them, winding valleys gouged out by floods that were almost incomprehensible in scale, the main channel alone is 6 miles wide and plunges 500 metres deep.

Scattered across the landscape: dark volcanic ash blown by Martian winds, ancient impact craters, and layered sediments that suggest the valley was once even deeper than it is today.

What makes this region so special is what it tells us about Mars' past. This was once a planet with liquid water on its surface warmer, wetter, and possibly capable of supporting life. The channel eventually drains toward Chryse Planitia, a low-lying plain where some scientists believe an ancient ocean may have existed.

Mars Express has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2003, and after more than two decades it is still revealing secrets. Every image is another piece of a 3.5-billion-year-old puzzle.

What do you think, could Mars ever have supported life? Drop your thoughts below.

14/05/2026

What does the Moon feel like? At Space Meetings Veneto, people found out.

We installed our Luna VR Experience — a scientific simulation developed by our Mars Virtual Systems division that lets you physically experience what astronauts face on the lunar surface. Lying on a platform tilted at 9.6°, participants felt fluid redistribution toward the upper body, changes in intracranial and intraocular pressure, and cardiovascular responses — all while immersed in a virtual lunar environment through VR.

This isn't just entertainment. It's space medicine made tangible, and a powerful tool for research, training, and public engagement with human spaceflight.

A heartfelt thank you to Anilkumar Dave and his team for believing in the project and making the installation possible.

30/04/2026

Our new logo as Italian Mars Society Chapter.

As the Italian chapter of the The Mars Society, we represent a community of scientists, engineers, students, and space enthusiasts united by a single vision: making humanity a multi-planetary species, with Mars as our next frontier.

This new logo reflects our identity, rooted in Italian excellence and innovation, looking boldly toward the Red Planet.

Join us on this journey. Whether you're a researcher, a dreamer, or simply someone who looks up at the night sky and wonders.

Follow us to stay updated on events, research, and missions!

11/04/2026

They're HOME! Artemis 2 astronauts have splashed down safely off the coast of San Diego, wrapping up one of the most historic space missions in decades.

The Orion capsule , named Integrity, carried four brave astronauts on a journey around the Moon, breaking spaceflight records and capturing the imagination of the entire world.

As NASA put it: "From the pages of Jules Verne to a modern-day mission to the moon, a new chapter of the exploration of our celestial neighbor is complete."

And the best part? This is just the beginning. Artemis 3 will aim to land astronauts on the Moon.

The future of space exploration is here, and it's breathtaking.

10/04/2026

Here We are: Artemis crew coming back home:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3kR2KK8TEs

This feed will provide continuous coverage of Artemis II mission activities with live commentary, beginning with tanking of the SLS (Space Launch System) roc...

07/04/2026

For the first time in over 50 years, humans have flown around the far side of the Moon , and the photos are absolutely breathtaking.

On April 6, the Artemis 2 crewm NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansenm, completed a historic lunar flyby, retracing a path last taken by Apollo 17 back in 1972.

The four spaceflyers documented their journey in incredible detail. Some of their images could help scientists better understand the Moon's geological history and evolution. Others? They exist purely to remind us how vast and beautiful our universe is.

Over half a century later, we're back and this time, we brought a camera.

06/04/2026

History is being made right now!

The Artemis 2 crew has just become the first humans to get an up-close look at the Moon in more than 50 years and the photos they're sending back are absolutely breathtaking.

A stunning new image captures both the near side of the Moon (the familiar face we see from Earth, with its distinctive dark patches) and the far side,, a view that very few humans have ever witnessed, and that the Artemis 2 crew are seeing with their own eyes for the very first time.

This is one of those moments that reminds us just how extraordinary human exploration truly is.
What do you think , are you following the Artemis 2 mission? Let us know in the comments!

ImageCredit: NASA