PARIS (Reuters) -- France's Research Ministry said on Tuesday it had signed a "statement of intent" with the U.S. space agency NASA for joint cooperation in its Mars exploration program.
A ministry statement said details of the agreement with NASA would be made public Thursday.
Industry officials told Reuters the agreement would probably name the European Ariane 5 rocket as the launch vehicle for a Mars mission in late 2003 or early 2004 to dig up Martian soil to test for organic or other life-related chemical compounds.
Discovery of visual signs of water seeping or bubbling to the surface of Mars in the recent past has given new impetus to scientists planning research missions to Mars.
American attempts to explore the Red Planet have been marred by major failures.
NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter was lost last year because the engineers who built it mixed up metric and imperial measurements, and two months later the Mars Polar Lander vanished without trace after starting its descent to the surface.
Research Minister Roger-Gerard Schwartzenberg has advocated renewed work on French piloted space missions using Ariane rockets, policy rejected by his predecessor Claude Allegre.
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