Brickbats where brickbats are due: If only ESA had invested in ( a
copy of ) that technology, Beagle might have provided something for
future missions, instead of a big, "we only had 65 million dollars",

I believe Beagle 2's budget was more in the range of 5 million GBP. The
whole thing has a diameter of 60 cm or two feet for you Imperialists -
no place for gadgets.

Nada. ( No idea about Mars Express's success - the ESA website is
SH... less than up-to-date ).

Mars Express is extremely successful - I'm sure ESA's website has things
to say about it, as I've read and seen some of it myself.

Jan