This would permit the detection of chemical signatures associated with specific atmospheric gases and perhaps even some surface processes.

BBC: Kepler telescope spies 'most Earth-like' worlds to date

For instance, Mawrth Vallis, one of the largest identified clay-rich regions on the Red Planet, exhibits a more uniform mineralogy pattern that indicates water was much more closely tied to surface processes on the planet.

MSN: New proof that water existed underground on ancient Mars

Together, these processes incised the glacier surface over time.

UNESCO: Dublin Core

The irregular distribution and thickness of tephra provoked differential ablation, and tephra remobilization processes took place on the glacier surface.

UNESCO: Dublin Core

Eventually, geological processes force some ancient sedimentary layers to the surface, briefly revealing embedded fossils but also exposing them to the elements, ensuring that unnoticed relics are rapidly eroded.

FORBES: Fossil Hunting

The researchers were able to draw parallels between our planet and Saturn's hazy moon, suggesting that similar geological processes may have altered Titan's icy surface in the recent past.

MSN: Saturn's moon Titan may have seen Earth-like erosion

There is a limit to the lifetime of these features: Europa's surface is relatively young, having been resurfaced by currently unknown processes some 50 million years ago.

BBC: Ice blades threaten Europa landing

In particular, the processes by which the circuit pattern is first projected on to a chip's surface lithographically, and then etched on to it chemically, will need to be altered to take account of the fact that the surface is curved.

ECONOMIST: Semiconductors