Never has a spacecraft been built so quickly, on so little money, and been sent on such a long journey fraught with so many dangers.

Beagle 2 has been carried to the vicinity of Mars by the Mars Express mothership, and released successfully to go its own way for the final leg of the journey.

The easy part is over.

Beagle's atmospheric entry, descent and landing on Mars on Christmas Day will be the most worrying six minutes in the history of unmanned space exploration.