Digging for life on Mars

Posted by tourdemars to Life on Mars at March 25, 2003 12:00 PM

Europe is stepping up its plans to search for life on Mars with proposals for a solar-powered robot that would spend months on the Martian surface. The Mars rover would be equipped with a portable lab, a drill, and a system to take soil samples from sites that could contain primitive life forms. The European Space Agency (Esa) is asking scientists to come up with ideas for the 2009 mission.