Featured Article - By Nicole Willett, Marspedia Vice Chair

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.

How You Can Help

Join the Marspedia Project! Help us to create an online encyclopedia about Mars!

New: Marspedia Tutorials

Access this new set of Marspedia Tutorials which provide guidance on how to use this site.

Here's how you can help

• If you have an article already written, submit via this Google Form.
• Sign up for a new account.
• Refine an Article Stub into something more complete.
• Write a new article for something on our list of Needed Articles.
• Tidy up an article that is listed in our Cleanup Category.
• Join the Editorial & Technical Subcommittees.
• Submit Your Content to Marspedia and we can add it to the wiki for you!

How to Edit the Wiki

• Use the "Edit" button on any page to make use of our Visual Editor. Here's its Help Guide.
• Use the "Edit Source" button on any page to use the code-based editor. Here's a list of Wiki codes you can use.

How to Search & Browse the Wiki

• Use the Search Page or the top Search box to quickly locate articles.
• Use the Category Tree (or click "Browse" in the left navigation) to look through the index we've set up.
• Use the All Pages feature of Mediawiki to locate anything in the wiki.

Teachers: Start Here!!

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?