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The collaborative resource for exploring and settling the Red Planet.

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Featured Article

Terraforming Mars is a process by which scientists hope to convert Mars into an Earth-like planet, providing an atmosphere within tolerable limits for human survival. NASA and other science organizations have been discussing a process called terraforming for a very long time. Terraform means to make like Earth. Many proposals have been submitted on the best way to make Mars like Earth. The timelines proposed have varied from 100 years to 100,000 years. Logic dictates finding a balance between moving too fast and too slow. If we terrraform too fast, we may end up with a runaway greenhouse effect similar to what we see on Venus. If we move too slowly, we run the risk of other complications, such as the natural rhythms of the Red Planet changing during the process which could interfere and complicate any progress we may be making. Terraforming Mars is of utmost importance in order to learn to live on other worlds. Humanity must have the ability to be a multi-planet species in order to preserve Homo sapiens for millions or billions of years.

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How You Can Help

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

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!!

The Latest News from MarsNews.com

NASA’s Mars helicopter spins blades for last time before launch (Apr 03)
Mars Rover Launch Delayed Until 2022 Over Software Tests And Coronavirus (Mar 14)
Virginia Middle School Student Earns Honor of Naming NASA’s Next Mars Rover (Mar 06)
NASA Reveals Bizarre Picture Of Mysterious Hole On Slopes Of Massive Martian Volcano (Mar 05)
The future of Mars colonization begins with VR and video games (Mar 03)
Will NASA’s Curiosity Rover Die On This Hill? (Mar 02)
Look down into a pit on Mars. The caved-in roof of a lava tube could be a good place to explore on the Red Planet (Feb 28)
What can the coronavirus outbreak teach us about bringing Mars samples back to Earth? (Feb 27)
NASA’s InSight Lander Detects Hundreds of ‘Marsquakes,’ Proving Mars is Seismically Active (Feb 24)
Japan will launch the first-ever sample return mission from the Martian system (Feb 21)
From Dubai to Mars, With Stops in Colorado and Japan (Feb 19)
Set your alarm: Moon, Mars and Earth to align before dawn on Tuesday (Feb 18)
NASA Will Soon Use ‘Space Lasers’ To Give Us Live Video From Mars And The Moon (Feb 12)
The Journey to Mars Begins in South Texas (Feb 11)
Trump calls for $25 billion NASA budget for 2021 to boost moon and Mars goals (Feb 11)

About Marspedia

Marspedia is an official project of The Mars Society and The Mars Foundation, with help from The Moon Society.

• Marspedia policies
  • Languages
  • Original Work is Allowed
  • No Need to be Notable
  • No Need to be Neutral
• Software Capabilities
  • Visual Editor (new!)
  • Interwiki

• Content Licenses
  • Content on Marspedia is Public Domain unless otherwise noted.
  • Articles that have specific content licenses will be tagged as such.
  • Disclaimer: The content licenses used on Marspedia do not apply to other wikis in our Interwiki network.

News about Marspedia

• 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.

• Mar 5, 2019 - The New Category Hierarchy and our custom Category Selection Tool (part of the MediaWiki Visual Editor) have now been rolled out to Marspedia.

• Dec 18, 2018 - James Burk presents the year's progress on the Marspedia 2018 End of Year Call

• 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.

• Oct 20, 2017 - Marspedia Governing Council is formed to manage & improve the wiki.

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