It looks like the Europeans will be making another attempt at landing on Mars in 2013. The lander will be a rover equipped with a drill capable of reaching a depth of 6ft -- roughly five times as deep as the drilling rovers being sent by NASA in 2007 and 2011. (So much for the dreaded Halliburton/NASA partnership...we can't even out-drill the Europeans.)

But...what to make of this?

A unique feature of the robotic laboratory is a probe that will enable it to drill up to 6ft under the Martian ground to test for signs of life with a device that has been likened to a pregnancy-testing kit.

The device - called a life marker chip - will contain biological molecules that can readily bind to other organic molecules once they come into contact...

Like pregnancy-testing kits, the device will exploit the property of some biological molecules, such as antibodies, which can selectively bind to other organic substances much like a key can turn a particular lock.
David Cullen of Cranfield University, said: "In essence, we are proposing to send hi-tech pregnancy-test type devices to Mars."

"In other words, molecular receptor-based devices that can look for multiple pieces of molecular evidence of life but the intention and expectation is not to find pregnant Martians," Dr Cullen added.

Well no, of course not...after all, Beagle II never got around to using its detachable penis.

Posted by T.L. James on June 14, 2006 08:30 PM