With Beagle 2 separation from Mars Express and entry, descent &
landing at Isidis Planitia just 2 weeks away... I just have a couple
of technical questions for someone with a 'spacecraft engineering' or
'flight navigation' background (Henry Spencer?!).

Will the command for release of the Beagle 2 aeroshell from the
'mother ship' be given from ground control on Earth or will this be an
automated programmed sequence already part of the craft's software
execution?

If it is ground control, how will the precise referencing of position,
velocity and landing site targeting be accomplished within the tight
'real-time' time windows and are the 3D entry descent and landing
vectors for this kind of maneouvre pre-calculated in advance or is it
some kind of incremental iterative process gradually refined as more
data is gathered en-route?

If it is an autonomously triggered sequence, how much guidance is
given from Earth in the final days and hours prior to execution of the
separation maneouvre?

Is there any graphic that depicts the timed Mars arrival trajectory
tickmarked relative to the planet's rotation which shows in detail the
3D referencing of entry interface with Mars' atmosphere right down to
the landing ellipse at Isidis Planitia? How *far* would the entry
interface be from Isidis Planitia and am I right in thinking the entry
angle is going to be 11.5 degrees relative to plane of Martian
atmosphere at initial point of contact (same as Mars Pathfinder)?

Thanks in advance...

Abdul Ahad
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...eprojects.html
"We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We
are at last ready to set sail for the stars" - Carl Sagan.