Marspedia:Topic List

This is a list of topics that we'd like to be fully covered with articles on the wiki.

Introductory Content

The Planet (overview, scientific details, interesting features & locations, the Moons, etc.)
History of Mars on Earth (why is it called Mars, theories about it, etc.)

Orbiters
- Mission pages for every robotic mission, including all failed attempts. (feel free to borrow from MarsNews.com which James Burk wrote all of, but much is likely out of date)
- Chandrayaan
Landers / Rovers
- Pathfinder
- Spirit
- Opportunity
- Curiosity
- Mars 2020
- Mars Express: Beagle 2
Future Missions: Mars Sample Return, ExoMars, Red Dragon, Big Falcon Rocket (BFR)

Current Plans & concepts: Mars Direct, NASA Design Reference Mission, Caltech missions, Mars One, SpaceX, etc.
History of plans - David S. F. Portree has done a lot of work in this area and James has his book. You can also pull up his Romance to Reality site which is in archive.org.
Technologies needed: propulsion (chemical, nuclear, ion, VASIMR, etc.), ISRU, space suits, lander concepts

Mars Foundation designs: Hillside Settlement, One way mission, Plains Settlement

Technologies needed: 3-D Printing using in-situ materials, use of lava tubes, etc.
Fictional Portrayals of Mars Settlement
- Kim Stanley Robinson: Article about Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars and what they did.
  - Based on Proceedings of Case for Mars #2 & #3. (Bruce has copies of these.)
- Also Ben Bova, Geoffrey Landis, Robert Zubrin, Gregory Benford, Paul McAuley (Quiet War, Gardens of the Sun).
- Older fiction: Heinlein, Clarke, etc.
- Potential issues/challenges raised in Mars fiction (political/economic relationship with Earth, how government/economics might be affected by conditions on Mars, vulnerability of domed settlements, effects of microgravity on the human body, etc.)
Commerce (including import/export, etc.)
- Potential Martian industries and exports
- Potential as base for asteroid mining ventures
  - Provide lodging, resupply, and other services to miners
  - Infrastructure
- Potential as base for exploring the outer Solar system
Other concepts.