Were you surprised by the way the Beagle II mission caught the public's imagination?

Were you surprised by the way the Beagle II mission caught the public's imagination?

Colin Pillinger (Professor of Planetary Sciences) gives expert video advice on: How was Beagle born?; Why did you launch the Beagle mission?; What is Beagle II? and more...

Mars is somewhere people have thought about for 5,000 years. Whether there is life on Mars has probably been thought about for 500 years, at least. Thus, I'm not surprised at all that people are interested in the Beagle II mission.