>>Well, Viking carried an experiment that tried to detect life. Now, the consensus is that it failed, and that the experiment was incapable of creating a useful result given the chemistry of the soil. Some people argue about that, but I am in no way qualified to take part in the debate, so I would back the consensus here.

>>What is odd is that there hasn't been a single other mission that's carried any experiment that has the objective of creating that result.

>>If the objective is to find life, why isn't anyone actually looking?

>>Tell me if what I've said above is in any way factually incorrect.

So... you tell me. Why no experiment? Not one in 50 years?

In the meantime we've learned a lot about the Martian atmosphere, it's climate, it's history, it's geology, the evolution of it's surface. I would argue that if a Viking 3 had flown with a revised kit that produced a definitive signal we wouldn't have got any of that.