Talk:Exploration of Mars

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Exploration of Mars was a good article nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There are suggestions below for improving the article. Once these are addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Reviewed version: July 9, 2006

The list of questions comes from [1]. The timeline of Mars exploration comes from [2]. Both are NASA websites and should accordingly be in the public domain. --Minesweeper 09:08, Jan 10, 2004 (UTC)

I've removed the statement that George W. Bush's space exploration plan includes "...the plan for a subsequent manned mission to Mars without a clear timetable", and changed it to "suggests that manned missions to Mars may be a possibility in the future." As far as I know, Bush's statement only vaguely included the possibility of "human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond." I know it's been widely reported in the media that Bush's plan emphasizes manned missions to Mars, but that really doesn't seem to be the case. See [3]. -- Wapcaplet 21:35, 22 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Removed passage

I removed :

Paul Davies, professor at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, believes that a one-way mission to Mars will greatly reduce the cost and technical difficulties of manned exploration.

From the manned missions section. Who cares what this man thinks, it does not actually provied real content to the article.

[edit] MGS first successful in two decades?

"This mission was the first successful one to the red planet in two decades when it launched November 7, 1996, and entered orbit on September 12, 1997"

I take issue with this statement, although the Phobos missions where not a complete success they did return useful data. This statement should be reworded. Zerbey 19:11, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

OK, no comments in 1 month so I've reworded it slightly as planned. Zerbey 20:05, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template

I have started to work on a template to link the different Martian Spacecraft. Right now I only have the current ones, if anyone wants to add to it, feel free. Template:Mars spacecraft Tuvas 18:02, 26 March 2006 (UTC) {{Mars_spacecraft}}

[edit] Mars Curse merge

I've suggested that the article Mars Curse be merged into this one, as I feel this is the more appropriate place for it.. mainly because here we have the complete list of launch attempts to Mars with their results; plus there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to say about the 'curse'. Comments? Mlm42 20:34, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

  • done. Mlm42 00:26, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
  • I suggest that we delete the 'Mars Curse' section. It's off topic.

[edit] WikiProject: Mars Spacecraft?

Hey all, I've been thinking about it, and it would be kind of nice to have a WikiProject for Martian spacecraft. There is a lot of articles that fall into this scope, some of them better maintained (Perhaps the best being the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter, and some less well maintained. Still, they all need their fair chance, and I think if we get a WikiProject going, it might help us to coordinate our efforts a bit better. Comments? Tuvas 21:11, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

  • I would presume all of them, the ~50 or so articles that are about Martian Spacecraft. I'd say it's sertainly large enough to start. I'm working on a start-up version of it, it's still got a ways before it's ready for the general public, but, if you want to take a look: Wikipedia:WikiProject: Mars SpacecraftTuvas 20:47, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Good article nomination (lack of references)

This is a really well-written article but unfortunately it contains barely any references and as such it cannot become a good article. Although inline citations would be preferable this is not essential but you do need to cite the sources that you get your information from or, alternatively, that you use to verify the information in the article. It has been added to the appropriate WikiProject for referencing.

Cedars 13:31, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Humans will reach Mars

When do you think humans will walk on Mars? Helicoptor 21:55, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Richard C. Hoagland

HE says that the reason that probes sent to Mars are being destroyed by a alien intelligence/ automated weapons system. 205.240.146.147 21:06, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Map of objects on Mars

I found a map[4] at a Nasa website with some of the landing sites. I think it would be nice to have such a map in the article. Is it possible to use the NASA image? Are there any similar ones? If not could someone create one? Lukas 06:28, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Country flags

Looking at the bottom table of succesful / failed missions, I see NASA missions accompanied by a USA flag, Japan missions with a Japanese flag, etc. but European missions are marked with the ESA logo instead of the more widely known (and clearer: letters of that size are a pain) European flag. I'm changing this, if anyone disagrees, please tell why here. 84.121.160.33 19:05, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Using the EU flag is inappropriate, I believe. ESA is not an EU department/ministry/administration; it is an independent organization. Not all members of the EU are members of ESA. The EU flag does not even appear among the flags shown on ESA's main page. 69.233.252.87 20:02, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the last post, see the following two maps: [5] [6]. See also the ESA main page (the EU flag doesn't appear, as mentioned above): [7]. I would suggest reverting it to the ESA flag. Another option would be to use the logos of the respective space agencies for all missions. Lukas 02:42, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

I'd agree with the ESA flag BaikinMan 17:34, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Launch windows

It isn't quite clear from the "Launch windows" section why these particular time-periods work well for Earth to Mars spaceflights. Is it because: if one considers all Hohman transfer orbits with periapsis at Earth's orbit around the Sun and with apoapsis at the orbit of Mars, these are the intervals when the planets are in the right places in their orbits? If so, is there a good way to explain that in the article? Is it reasonable to at least somehow mention Hohman transfers at this point in the article? And ... what about gravity-assist flybys of other planets enroute? Do they make other launch windows available? Sdsds 21:04, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

in the Launch window section, I added a link to Hohmann transfer. In my opinion, the links to Hohmann trajectory and to synodic periods means the links within this section are sufficient references to make it clear, so I deleted the request for references as to where the launch windows come from for this section.
There are no other planets enroute between Earth and Mars. It is, in fact, possible to do an alternate trajectory that flies inward past Venus orbit; I'll add a mention of this to the section as well. Geoffrey.landis 16:31, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Flag for ESA mission

The entry in the timeline for the Mars Express Orbiter mission was modified to use the flag of the EU. Sadly, that isn't right -- Mars Express Orbiter was an ESA mission, but ESA is not an agency of the EU. It could be switched to the ESA logo, but only if someone wants to apply a fair use rationale for it, as the logo isn't free. I have used instead a text substitute for the ESA's flag, which is rather ugly. Is there a better way to handle this situation? (sdsds - talk) 02:14, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mars landing

I have tagged the recently created article Mars landing for merger. While it might be possible to write an article on landing experiences and theories, the current article is essentially a copy of this one--including information on orbital missions! Eluchil404 20:04, 3 September 2007 (UTC) Agreed. Merging sounds good to me. 59.101.254.77 15:16, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rosetta and Dawn

The two missions have and will do useful science at Mars, therefore they should be included66.108.105.211 14:17, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What ???

The meaning of this sentence is unclear:
"Eleven of the missions included attempts to land on the surface, but only six transmitted data once after landing."
Does this mean that out of eleven landings, six missions only transmitted data once?
Does it mean that out of 11 attempts, only six missions landed? But then, did they all transmit data?Twang (talk) 16:43, 28 April 2008 (UTC)