That's exactly the point
Barry has been merciless in his criticism of NASA - even to the point of associating the agency to the nazi's in his book.
Beagle 2 has been a long shot from the very beginning. And, as you know, I never expected the thing to get off the ground in the first place.
Its unfortunate that the lander has gotten so much publicity given the main mission of the Mars Express orbiter. The science results from the orbiter will be far more important than anything the lander was likely to produce.
Still one hopes that the little lander that could figures out how to phone home.