[al baby]

[aomagrat]

The Martians are getting pissed with all of this junk we've been dropping on their planet.

[tet68]

Other possibilities include , but are not limited to,
Burned to a cinder on reentry,partial deployment of chute,
failure to deploy or partial deployment of air bags, landed in martian out house, forgot to set clock back one hour for mars daylight saving time.

[aynrandfreak]

"I think those lights are out on purpose."

[chainsaw]

no signal from Beagle 2 has been received since it touched down on the red planet Christmas Day.

What can you expect when it touches down at 70,000 miles per hour with a vertical approach?

I'm only guessing at the speed.

[el_chupacabra]

If a British space probe smashes into an uninhabited planet's surface and shatters into a million tiny pieces, does it still make a sound?

[Rockitz]

In all seriousness, the problem with landing in a crater is that, by its very nature, the crater was the site of a prior landing and thus a large amount of dust and debris was cast into the surrounding atmosphere. Upon settling, the dust and debris is undoubtedly less dense and therefore softer than a non-cratered landing spot. Maybe the beagle landed such that it is buried in that dust and debris and thus communication paths are occluded by said dust and debris- kind of like burying a golf ball in a sand trap. Landing within a crater may be "by design" so as to avert rocky terrain and guarantee a generally smooth and soft landing spot, but possibly the chosen spot was too soft.

Additionally, I have a feeling that the atmosphere of Mars is not as well characterized as thought or was possibly not modelled appropriately from an aerodynamic perspective, potentially increasing the terminal velocity and ultimately the impact velocity.

Let's say that, in general, I have a sinking feeling with regard to the Beagle II.

[Johnny_Cipher]

Finally, the answer to that age-old question:

Q: How do you get a beagle to shut up?
A: Send it to Mars.

[You Dirty Rats]

"The dog that didn't bark."