Topics at this year’s Paris Air Show reach beyond Earth’s atmosphere to the wider solar system. During meetings held this week, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden signed agreements with two European partners to advance exploration of Mars.
Bolden and Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), formalized an agreement for France to supply the mast for the SuperCam instrument aboard NASA’s Mars 2020 rover.
SuperCam builds on the success of ChemCam, the laser-and-camera instrument currently operating on the Curiosity rover. ChemCam analyzes rocks and soil to help select targets for more detailed analysis by other instruments. SuperCam will expand those capabilities with four scientific techniques that improve detection of organic compounds and other biosignatures — clues about whether life may have once existed on Mars — and will help identify samples for collection and potential return to Earth.
“I’m delighted that our long-time partners at CNES will join us on the next step in our journey to Mars,” Bolden said. “We’re paving the way for humans to visit the Red Planet and working to answer one of the key questions for all humanity: Has there ever been life elsewhere?”
In addition, Bolden signed an agreement extending cooperation with Spain on several Mars initiatives, including continued collaboration on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, support for NASA’s InSight mission that will study Mars’ interior, and participation in the Mars 2020 rover program.
These agreements strengthen international partnerships that combine unique technical expertise and resources to accelerate scientific return. France’s contribution of the SuperCam mast supports precision aiming, stability, and communications for the instrument suite, while Spain’s cooperation brings additional scientific and engineering capabilities to multiple missions. Together, these partnerships increase the likelihood of identifying compelling samples and bringing back critical data about Mars’ geology, climate history, and potential habitability.
The enhanced instrument suite on Mars 2020 is designed to search for signs of ancient life, characterize the planet’s past environments, and collect and cache samples that could be retrieved by a future mission. By coordinating efforts across agencies, the programs aim to reduce mission risk, share costs, and broaden scientific involvement from the international community.
These announcements at the Paris Air Show underscore how global collaboration is central to modern planetary exploration. By pooling expertise from national space agencies and research institutions, missions to Mars are better equipped to answer foundational questions about the planet’s past and its prospects for supporting life, while also laying groundwork for eventual human exploration.