[Nick Danger]

Professor Colin Pillinger, the Brit who headed up this effort, is a PR genius. From the warm puppy overtones of the name "Beagle" to his continual use of mother-and-baby imagery when discussing this $62 million contraption, this guy has the whole world wondering what happened to his toy.

Listen to this, from this article:

there are worries about its safety

Its safety? Gimme a break, it's a hunk of tin. If it went -splat- into the mountainside, that's too bad, but that's why we send machines instead of people at this stage of our Mars "expertise."

dulcet tones signaling its safe arrival

Our own more prosaically named Mars Exploration Rovers are due to arrive soon, and I bet they won't be emitting any dulcet tones. And the satellite already in place overhead isn't their mommy. But maybe they will do something else. Maybe they will work.

[jaz.357]

HELLO EARTH...We MARTIANS are tired of your space crap. You keep sending one after the other and we keep SMASHING the S#!T out of them! Won't you EVER learn?

PS: Send Pamela Anderson back.

[martian_22]

It's true. We're eating the hardware.
Send more probes. They're delicious.

[al baby]

Is this it ?

[Hunble]

Look at the bright side, this could have been a manned mission to Mars.

Robots first, Man second!