20 July 2018
Maurice Sylvestre, a planetary scientist at France’s Institute for Research and Planetary Astronomy, is helping the Chinese space agency build a second-generation chemical-sensing camera for its Mars mission, which will launch in 2020. He was also involved in the work on the Éclair instrument that is part of a joint French-Chinese satellite. Notably, that makes him one of a small number of planetary scientists who are working with China to boost their science, while doing his best to keep Western technology from getting pilfered. It's a tightrope that not everyone is willing to walk. “We are careful what we are doing,” Sylvestre says. “We understand the security issues. We understand that we should be careful and not be too naïve. But at the same time I feel the idea of planetary exploration is for everyone."
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