The twin landers, each the size of a desk and weighing 375 pounds (170 kilograms), will ramble dozens of meters a day, drilling into rocks and scooping up soil in preliminary field studies to help identify ancient oases.

CNN: Race to Mars begins a distant search for life

They used new techniques that can identify ancient genetic information from an archaeological find, even when large amounts of DNA from soil bacteria are also present.

BBC: Fossil human traces line to modern Asians

It is the Ibiza the ancient Greeks used to call the 'pine-covered island', a fertile land where almost every patch of soil is filled with trees bearing different fruits - figs, quinces, lemons, carob seeds and almonds - so that the surrounding air is perfumed with their ripening scent.

BBC: The three colours of Ibiza