The real question is, can rovers similar to the ones we have on Mars detect life in places where we know for sure have at least some life? We have to calibrate

The real question is, can rovers similar to the ones we have on Mars detect life in places where we know for sure have at least some life? We have to calibrate our expectations right? Given the sensors available on mars rovers, many of the samples of life found in Atacama would be inconclusive if found on Mars. There are a lot of interesting findings about analyzing sparsely distributed life in this paper. Here's a quote you might find amusing > While life “follows the water” in the desert, it is scattered and its distribution follows the subtle reaches of the fog or that of invisible aquifers, which are dictated by complex geographical and topographical parameters. It can be abundant in a localized patch (millimeters to a few hundreds of meters in size) and then disappear for many kilometers. It can be present on one wall of a small gully and absent from the opposite wall only ten centimeters away. Keys to finding microscopic life are critical at all scales. They are found at the megascale (regional geology, morphology, topography, and climatology); at the mesoscale (a slope, a rock, a type of soil, a specific size of sediment); and at the microscale (a crack in a rock, pore and joint spaces, grain translucence). The success of finding life while exploring the desert on foot depends on integrating all of this information, a task which robotic exploration needs to achieve as well. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2006JG000298 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/200...