Correct me if I am wrong, but until recently I could have sworn
I read that the main goal of Phoenix was to find life at the Martian
north pole. Find actual life forms.

Nowadays I read that it is only meant to find the chemistry that
could support life on Mars past or present.

Is my memory faulty or is NASA playing games in order to avoid
another mess such as happened with the Viking results?

Ah, for the good ol' days, when we figured there were creatures
on Mars and had no fear in saying we would find them. Now it's
let's find water first, then organics, and then maybe, way down
the road, a microbe or two.

Just wait until a submersile is sent into Europa's ocean and the
probe is surrounded by alien aquatic creatures. There, I said it.