Larry J said:

>You're pushing a strawman argument. He didn't say that life cannot exist anywhere
>but Earth. Few people say that. He didn't even say that life couldn't (or doesn't)
>exist on Mars. His post is based on the scientific community's assertion that the
>Viking lander experiments didn't find conclusive proof of life. The Viking tests were
>considered inconclusive because other things such as a chemical reaction with
>the soil could give a false positive result.

Thanks Larry for clarifying this. My full opinion on this issue is that life can not exist on the surface of Mars based upon the Viking data (a widely held view). I also believe that Mars probably has no subsurface life because no methane has been detected in the Martian atmosphere (a less widely held view). I also believe that Mars may never have had life because no carbonates (limestone) have ever been observed on the Martian surface which would be evidence of an ancient denser atmosphere (the jury is definitely out on this one). I should emphasize that I'm only a humble aerospace engineer and not a planetary scientist.

>These new missions will be carrying better equipment to look for life. Who
>knows, they may find it. We can hope.

Mars Exploration Rover (MER) unlike Viking is NOT an exobiology mission. MER is mainly concerned with searching for water and doing straight (geo)ology. Beagle-2 is another story but that doesn't really matter because IMHO it's probably going to auger-in due to issues with it's EDL system.

Gary