It looks like that the Beagle 2 crew is searching continuesly for the probes' signal. This is not correct. There are time windows. Only through them communication is possible. To get an idea when the next possibility is given check out the Beagle 2 time schedule.

Until now ESA got no feedback from Beagle 2. The scientists have still hope but possibility is high that the lander is lost.
Feedback from Mars Express shows a successful orbit insertion. The mission is not a failure but we will not get everything.

Since now no signal was heart from the Beagle 2 probe. The next pass of the Mars Odyssey orbiter should be in the next hours.
The good thing is that Mars Express is caught by Martian gravity. So there is absolutely no reason to say that the mission failed even if Beagle 2 is not transmitting anymore.
Landing on the Red Planet was always a gamble. Only NASA's Vikings and Sojourner were successful. If Beagle 2 will not talk anymore it is tragic but even then Mars Express will send us interesting data from the warrior planet.

Insertion looks successfully. At least the orbiter is there it should be ... hopefully!

Beagle 2 should be on Mars now. Hopefully Mars Odyssey will receive the wake-up call from the small probe ... hopefully!

Tension is increasing. 18 hours are left till the landing of Beagle 2. In the same time the orbiter Mars Express will start the insertion maneuvre. It would be a nice X-mas present if the probe would transmit data to the Mars Odyssey orbiter around 4 o'clock in the morning. Keep the thumbs pressed.
Some German news about Europes Mars attempt can be found in this SPIEGEL Online article.

Like written before the Beagle 2 Seperation was successfully. Now we have to wait a little bit: In 4 Days and 13 hours Beagle 2 will land. Hopefully it will survive the rough descend. It would be a great day for the European Space Agency. But not only for them. NASA's Mars Odyssey will act as link in the first days. Because Mars Express needs some time to park in orbit teamwork between the US and European scientists is crucial. At least in orbit around Mars people know that they depend on each other.

... successfully. Now a hot ride is waiting for the small probe.

21 hours till the seperation sequence.
Orbit insertion on the 25th December 2003.
Merry X-mas ;-)

The European Mars Express Mission is one day before the first critical phase. In 26 hours the Beagle Lander will seperate itself from the Orbiter and will start to descend into the Marsian atmosphere. Hopefully it will survive the harsh landing. Landing on the Marsian surface was always a gamble. The last NASA mission Mars Polar Lander crashed on the surface because the retrorockets shut off while the probe was still in the air most propably because the sensors in the landing gear detected the touch down to early.
Even the insertion into orbit is still a critical part. Unfortunately the Mars Climate Orbiter burned out in the Marsian atmosphere during the aerobraking procedure. In this case it seemed that a unit conversion problem occured.