I suspect part of the reasoning for going to the moon rather than elsewhere is exactly to avoid a Beagle-like fiasco. This should be a relatively safe bet to relaunch the sector.

I wonder how much of this initiative is a reaction to recent success at ESA. To the layman, ESA seems politically dominated by continental interests; and a couple of bigwigs seemed to take a swipe at "countries going alone" during Phileas celebrations.