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NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover (formerly Mars 2020) has a launch window from July 20 thru August 11, 2020 with a planned landing for February 18, 2021. The landing site selected is Jezero Crater at the coordinates 18.38°N 77.58°E, at nearly the same longitude as the Viking I lander in 1976. Perseverance has four major goals. The first goal is to determine whether life ever arose on Mars, the second goal is to characterize the climate of Mars, third is to characterize the geology of Mars, fourth and most importantly to prepare for human exploration of Mars.
Perseverance, nicknamed Percy, was once thought of as a clone of MSL Curiosity, which landed in Gale crater in 2012. Some of the systems are the same and some have been updated with current technology. The 2020 rover is over 150 kg heavier than the MSL rover, weighing in at 1,025 kg. Perseverance will utilize the same landing system as Curiosity, the skycrane, which is enhanced with updated technology such as terrain relative navigation. This system will help Perseverance avoid landing in a dangerous area. Another new technology is the system called range trigger, which tells the parachute when to open in order for the rover to land in the desired landing spot. This technology saves time, as previous rovers had to land in a flat area and later drive to the more interesting targets. Perseverance has updated titanium wheels which include cleats and spokes as scientists discovered that Curiosity’s wheels were being damaged by the sharp rocks. The wheels for Perseverance were redesigned to withstand damage from the sharp rocks.
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- NASA’s Perseverance Rover Just Turned Martian CO2 Into Oxygen (Apr 22)
- NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Succeeds in Historic First Flight (Apr 19)
- NASA’s InSight Mars lander is going into emergency hibernation. If it can’t save its batteries, it could die. (Apr 15)
- The Golden Box That Could Create Oxygen on Mars (Mar 30)
- The first self-sufficient and sustainable cities on Mars could house one million humans (Mar 23)
- NASA’s Perseverance Has Landed (Feb 18)
- China’s Tianwen-1 Mission Successfully Begins Mars Orbit (Feb 17)
- Hope spacecraft enters Mars orbit, making history for UAE (Feb 10)
- NASA’s ‘Mars Helicopter’ Ingenuity will reach the Red Planet next month (Jan 26)
- NASA video shows Perseverance rover’s planned ‘terror’ landing on Mars (Dec 26)
- How NASA Built a Self-Driving Car for Its Next Mars Mission (Jul 21)
- The United Arab Emirates successfully launches its first spacecraft bound for Mars (Jul 20)
- Mars missions: NASA, China and the UAE launch new spacecraft this month (Jul 13)
- NASA Seeking US Citizens for Social Isolation Study for Moon and Mars Missions (May 22)
- What A Simulated Mars Mission Taught Me About Food Waste (Apr 15)
Marspedia is an official project of The Mars Society and The Mars Foundation, with help from The Moon Society.
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News about Marspedia
- October 16, 2020 - 2020 Annual Report presented by James Burk & Frank Crossman at the Mars Society Virtual Convention.
- July 3, 2020 - Marspedia Vice Chair Nicole Willett completes new article on Mars 2020 Rover which is featured on the main page.
- Mar 24, 2020 - Marspedia volunteer Jim Secosky completes detail pages for each Mars Quadrangle, to further bolster our Mars Atlas.
- Jan 14, 2020 - Marspedia volunteers led by Michel Lamontagne complete first version of clickable Mars Atlas.
- Dec 5, 2019 - 2019 Annual Report on Marspedia, presented by James Burk at the 22nd Annual Mars Society Convention.
- Sep 15, 2018 - James Burk and Frank Crossman present the last year's progress on Marspedia at the 21st Annual Mars Society Convention.
- May 7, 2018 - Marspedia Editorial Subcommittee finishes work on a new Category hierarchy covering Human exploration & settlement topics.
- Dec 31, 2017 - The Moon Society recounts the recent history of Marspedia in latest Moon Miners' Manifesto newsletter.
- Dec 31, 2017 - Mars Foundation mentions Marspedia in its End of Year Newsletter.
- Nov 17, 2017 - The Mars Society officially announces its involvement in Marspedia and calls for volunteers to help.
Marspedia is organized as a Specific Hierarchy of Categories
The Editorial Subcommittee examined the past ad hoc approach of categorization of Marspedia articles and found it to be lacking a structure of how information about Mars is displayed and searched. The Subcommittee wanted a logical and navigable hierarchy of categories. This would also form the core of a new Browse experience. The new Marspedia category tree is much more focused on the future and specifically expanded on aspects of the future human exploration and permanent settlement of the Red Planet. It also focuses on outreach (advocacy) and the arts and literature to encourage individuals and the public at large to support human exploration and settlement there. Finally Marspedia is focused on providing the best source of information about past, present, and future exploration and settlement of Mars.
View Category:Main
Category Hierarchy
All categories for Marspedia roll up into the following 6 top-level categories. Two lower tiers of categories and pages linked to them can be seen by clicking the link icon on each. Creators of new pages should only link one or more of the categories in the hierarchy shown below to their page.
- I. Mars Planetary Science - physical description of the planet; all the science data that is collected
- II. Mars Spacecraft/Robotic Missions - (non-human) - mission planning and execution history.
- III. Mars Human Exploration - human exploration concepts and planning
- IV. Mars Human Settlement - including plans & concepts, philosophical/ethical considerations, and mars analogue research
- V. Mars Outreach - Advocacy for Mars Exploration/Settlement - people and organizations (Mars Society, Marspedia, etc), political action, and public outreach & education
- VI. Mars Arts and Literature - Mars in literature, music, movies, plays, graphic arts, photography?
