Interpretation of new results from Mars with respect to life

NASA has frequently stated that its highest priority is the search for extraterrestrial life. However, no life detection instruments have been sent to Mars since the Viking Mission in 1976 produced highly disputed evidence for microbial life in the Martian soil. The unfortunately lost Beagle 2 and the successfully landed Spirit and Opportunity are all devoid of means to investigate the Viking findings or otherwise to determine whether or not life exists or ever existed on the red planet. However, all of these spacecraft contain instruments that are designed to obtain data ancillary to that vital and supreme question. Imaging and spectral data have now arrived from the European Space Agency's orbiter, Mars Express, and from NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. These data are discussed from the standpoint of their impact on the prospects for life on Mars, and, specifically, on the 1976 Viking Labeled Release (LR) experiments that the author claims proved the presence of active microbial life in the topsoil of Mars.