[bonesmccoy]

It's important for freepers to understand that there will not be immediate confirmation of landing.

A delay of about 10 minutes will exist in the timing of the communication because of the distance between the two planets.

In addition, if the lander is not aligned correctly, the antenna could be blocked. If the lander does not land on it's base, it will need to rotate during the deployment of the petals.

I'm not an engineer on this mission, but with all of the gears and motors involved, you have to worry about a single point of failure screwing up the entire mission.

[NormsRevenge]

I hear ya.. There is no guaranteed anything at this point in space exploration, especially when it comes to Mars, it would seem.

Even the simplest spacecraft face huge odds when the time to deploy and perform arrive.

The use of air bags has worked, before.. Here's to another success tonight.

I hope Beagle2 is located and able to be contatced and salvaged, I think the MARS Express is supposed to be attempting to locate and contact Beagle2.

It has 4 or 5 time windows when it will be in a position to scan that area where Beagle2 should have landed.