Rumors are flying this weekend that Mars Phoenix has made a major discovery relating to the potential for life on Mars.

Wired.com reached Sam Kounaves, the mission's wet chemistry lab lead, by cell phone this morning. He quickly directed us to speak with NASA's PR representatives, but not before he said, simply, "Rumors are rumors." -- Wired News, August 4, 2008

This poem was published in either Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine or Analog, back in the '70s, on the occasion of the Viking lander's ambiguous discovery of maybe-life on Mars.

	Once upon a planet dreary
	Came a rocket engine cheery
	On a flight to test a theory
	On Mars's frigid desert floor!

	Did life arise spontaneous
	Or some alien's trash extraneous
	Seed the globe that now contains us?
	Quoth the Lander, "Either-or."

The poem was accompanied by a sketch of the Viking lander with a Foglioesque Martian sitting on top leaning over to stare into a camera.

If anyone has more information about the author of this poem, or better a scan of the page, it would be appreciated. I carried a copy around for many years, but it seems to have been lost in a move.

Update: I'm not the only one who remembers it: Annoying Old Guy does too.

Lynx-enhanced by <peter&snabla;taronga.com> (Peter da Silva)