From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!csu-cs!silver Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Rushing to the defense of poor old Viking Article-I.D.: csu-cs.2055 Posted: Fri Feb 25 17:19:37 1983 Received: Sun Feb 27 01:51:09 1983 Yes, but, remember, the Viking lander merely scooped up some dirt and used that for analysis. Anything that couldn't move out of the way of the little sampler arm might as well be fried! Besides, Somebody's Principle (Heisenberg's Uncertainty?) says you can't do ANYTHING to a system without disturbing it. In our local neck of the System, we exist, ergo we have the right to exist, and probably to explore it as well (it's a survival trait).