Xerox claims that its printers, which can crank out 80 pages a minute, can target specific areas of a page for color printing using a material that is cheaper than what is used in standard laser printers.
And as the decayed material has an extremely high water content Mr Hansen said that most of the laser's energy is absorbed by the infected tissue, which is then vaporised.
But further measurements using a laser and looking for reflections showed that much of the ice is covered with a layer of dark material tens of centimetres thick.
The Laser Avenger, which is being developed by Boeing, is a vehicle-mounted system that can slowly heat explosive material from several hundred metres.