Knowing people at NASA, this hasn't been the case in my life-time. Most of the flagship rover missions have been designed principally to find evidence of water

Knowing people at NASA, this hasn't been the case in my life-time. Most of the flagship rover missions have been designed principally to find evidence of water and life on Mars. Those "geological" missions have been dedicated to finding the evidence of water (something that has been done in my lifetime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_information_from_the_Mars_Exploration_Rover_mission#Water_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_information_from_th... Once detection was confirmed, the mission brief for Curiosity and Perseverance has evolved to finding life. One of the largest science initiatives at NASA right now revolves around sample return to perform a more exhaustive search for Martian life using Earthen laboratories. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-moves-forward-with-campaign-to-return-mars-samples-to-earth https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-moves-forward-with-c... I have had the good fortune to get to know some of the senior scientific leadership at NASA. I can confidently say, based on their budget and talking to them, that detection of life in the solar system and other planets is the #1 scientific priority at NASA.