Carl;
I don't mean this to be insulting, but I find your thinking to be unconstrained to the point of being science fiction.
How could anyone possibly conceive of a way of detecting, either remotely or locally, such inorganic lifeforms ? Especially if we haven't even detected them here on lifeform central ? Would we even call them lifeforms at all ? If so, why ? If not, then their very definition automatically excludes them from the scope of detecting lifeforms !
How would you design the detection systems for MSL/Curiosity with these models in mind ?
We've gotta get real about this .. otherwise the money will disappear from the budget before we can spend it !!
Cheers