ENGINEERS have developed a new tool to help them hunt for signs of life on
Mars. Their metre-long, white-hot spear can melt its way through soil and rocks
to depths where evidence of past life may be lurking.
If life ever existed on Mars, harsh conditions on the surface could mean the
only remaining traces may be buried more than a kilometre down. But conventional
drilling is unlikely to unearth them. “The soil is a mixture of sand, dust and
rocks cemented together with salt minerals,” says John Bridges, who studies
Martian geology at London’s Natural History Museum. “For the…
