I didn't for a moment imagine that you deliberately typed with a stutter! ;-)

What I was complaining about was that you cut-and-pasted without turning on your brain to SEE what had happened. Things do go wrong in computerland, and as I showed, it is straightforward, although mildly tedious to correct the errors for the benefit of your readers.

If you care so little for your reader's sensibility and devalue their time compared to yours, why should we bother to read what you deign to throw before us, like pearls before swine?

<Sarcasm=Off>

Complaints aside, I'm looking forward to the next year's results from all the existing and en-route Mars missions, and now the new Phoenix scout mission for 07/08. We still need a Netlander-style seismic network but that will come, hopefully in our lifetimes. ;-)

I don't think you should pin so much of your hopes on Beagle II. The chance of it surviving landing and returning unequivocable data is low, IMHO. I'm prepared to be surprised, and indeed would be delighted to find life beyond the Earth, somewhere as easy as Mars. It would certainly give the space effort a new impetus and lead to a change in our Earthbound mindset. However, even after Beagle II, if it fails to detect the organics and non-equilibrium chemistry it is seeking then the chance of undetected but extant life on Mars will continue, although at progressively lower probability.