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NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover launched on July 30, 2020 and landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. The landing site 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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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.
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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
