Talk:Mars 2020

AGU 2012

There were a lot of mixed feelings in the room after the NASA talk. The exact concept has to be known, especially the instruments before this will get a mission. The launch in 2018 is simply not to make when you want to stay within budget. NASA has to stretch the money to some years. This is not what NASA can afford not what NASA could do if there is plenty of money.--Stone (talk) 08:02, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

I agree. The mission's objective has not been determined, so the payload development, testing and incorporation could not be acomplished in such short notice. Any mention of a 2018 launch has to be treated as speculative. Cheers, BatteryIncluded (talk) 16:10, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Grunsfeld ask for people who want to join the Science Definition Team. I do not know now how to get in, but I hope somebody I know will get onboard.--Stone (talk) 20:26, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

Power source

The tune is changing, now the Aviation Week is talking of using solar panels:[1]). I will hold back any changes until we hear it from NASA. My assessment is that they will decide on the power source after selecting the scientific payload and defining the objectives. Cheers BatteryIncluded (talk) 22:01, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

My guess is that the author read this Wikipedia article and wrongly assumed the old rover concept art was for the 2020 rover. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 19:41, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Aviation Week is quite reliable on the latest scoop; it has been dubbed 'Aviation Leak', but NASA calls the shots. Still waiting for a press release on the mission. Cheers, BatteryIncluded (talk) 00:27, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

"Q: Will the Mars 2020 rover use the same type of nuclear power source that Curiosity uses?

A: No final decision on a power source for the 2020 rover would be made until the mission completes a review through the National Environmental Policy Act process, which considers the environmental impacts of launching and conducting the mission. This process is currently scheduled to conclude in late 2014. The baseline-design power source for 2020 mission planning is the same as Curiosity's: a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Other possible power sources are also under consideration, including solar power." Source: http://mars.nasa.gov/files/m2020/Mars2020FAQs.pdf. 84.147.108.63 (talk) 14:18, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

RFIs starting to go out

The first rover RFI went out last Friday. [2] Things are moving fast but I guess the RFP is still a long way off. I'm drafting a substantial re-write of this article in my userspace by the way. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 09:08, 6 July 2013 (UTC)

Unintentionally removed { {Portal|Astrobiology}}

Seems I may have unintentionally rm the { {Portal|Astrobiology}} as a dup - *entirely* ok w/ me if you would like to rv or related - enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 17:24, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

I am glad you removed the duplicated portal, even if by mistake. Thanks! BatteryIncluded (talk) 17:32, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

NASA-TV (07/31/2014@12pm/et/usa) - Mars 2020 Rover - Announcement.

NASA-TV (07/31/2014@12 noon/pm/et/usa) - Panel of leading experts to announce instruments for the upcoming Mars 2020 Rover => < ref name="NASA-20140730">Brown, Dwayne (July 30, 2014). "NASA to Announce Mars 2020 Rover Instruments". NASA. Retrieved July 30, 2014.</ref> - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 02:49, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

FOLLOWUP - RELATED NASA REFERENCES - Space Experts Announce Mars 2020 Rover Payload => M2020 - Video (51:42) - New Science Instruments (July 2014) - ALSO - < ref name="NASA-20140731a">Brown, Dwayne (July 31, 2014). "RELEASE 14-208 NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore the Red Planet as Never Before". NASA. Retrieved July 31, 2014. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 15 (help)</ref> - AND - < ref name="NASA-20140731b">Brown, Dwayne (July 31, 2014). "NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore the Red Planet as Never Before". NASA. Retrieved July 31, 2014.</ref> - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 18:10, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

Launch table - wrong units

The table shows figures from the source eg 7.7 to 11.1 for 2018 launch. However source says this is launch energy and is in units of km^2/s^2 so it isn't Launch velocity in km/s. I have changed table to show energy and km^2/s^2 units. Not sure if this should show C3-launch energy. Also not sure if this is a meaningful measure that should be included - does it really take that much more energy launch in 2020 rather than 2018? There is also VHP – V∞ (km/sec) which is less for 2020 than for 2018 not sure if that is more meaningful or needed in addition to understand. crandles (talk) 18:21, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

I'm unaware of specific launch energies involved, but I would assume that the 2018 window (which for people reading this in the future is soon and the rover most certainly will not be ready) will cost more, as you stated, because of a not-so-nice alignment of Earth's and Mars's orbital planes. In astrodynamics, plane-change maneuvers are expensive fuel-wise. Madmohawk (talk) 14:30, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Landing sites

FYI, landing site selection presentations are freely available here. This could be an interesting section in the article. There are three landing sites remaining: Jezero Crater, Northeast Syrtis, and Columbia Hills (yes, where Spirit died). Actually, the scientific justification for Columbia Hills is absolutely fascinating. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.79.212.241 (talk) 16:28, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

Update

I updated and made a general edit of the article. It was relying too much on the preliminary design proposal. The concept has matured and undergone extensive technical reviews, so I attempted to update the article on that. I moved some text around, and expanded on the rover's role in the potential sample-return. I have taken time and thought to improve this article, but it is possible I made mistakes or messed the display, so please feel free to make corrections as needed.

I also propose to delete the section entitled "Reactions". It may have been relevant in the days following the announcement, but it falls in the WP:Recentism caveat. Most of it is now irrelevant if not outdated. Your thoughts? Cheers, Rowan Forest (talk) (Formerly BatteryIncluded) 01:12, 7 July 2018 (UTC)

What changes from MSL/Curiosity apart from the rover instruments and wheels

Article does not say how aeroshell, parachute, descent vehicle, and sky crane have been changed or if they are the same as MSL.
New parachutes have been tested (not sure why) in the ASPIRE tests 2018 [3], Rover is only 150kg heavier.
Strangely Mars 2020 seems limited to 0 km altitude landing sites whereas MSL could land at up to +1km altitude. - Rod57 (talk) 11:09, 24 March 2019 (UTC)

As far as I know, the EDL and sky crane remain unchanged, but it has an improved system for better landing accuracy. I have not been able to find more info on that. Rowan Forest (talk) 18:45, 24 March 2019 (UTC)

"The Mars 2020 rover adds new entry, descent, and landing (EDL) technologies, such as Terrain-Relative Navigation (TRN). Terrain-Relative Navigation allows the rover to detect and to avoid hazardous terrain by diverting around it during its descent through the Martian atmosphere."

Explanation on how it operates: [4] Rowan Forest (talk) 18:51, 24 March 2019 (UTC)

"[…] mission engineers have reduced the landing zone of Mars 2020 to 50 percent smaller than Curiosity's." [5]. -Rowan Forest (talk) 19:01, 24 March 2019 (UTC)

"Mars 2020" is a placeholder name of the Curiosity-derived rover

According to NASA, "Starting Tuesday, K-12 students in U.S. public, private and home schools can enter the Mars 2020 Name the Rover essay contest. One grand prize winner will name the rover and be invited to see the spacecraft launch in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida."[6] This means that the "Mars 2020" is a placeholder name of the Curiosity-derived rover. What are your thoughts with this? —Yours sincerely, Soumyabrata (talk • subpages) 08:13, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

It is a well-known fact that the actual name has not determined yet, so why open a discussion about a move that can't be done yet? Rowan Forest (talk) 14:01, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

Requested move 5 March 2020

Mars 2020 → Perseverance (rover) – Per the NASA event this page should be moved to Perseverance as the temporary Mars 2020 name is not needed. Anyone who has a simple program to go through and replace Mars 2020 with Perseverance would be appreciated even before the move. AndrewRG10 (talk) 18:40, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose – the mission is Mars 2020, while the rover is Perseverance, much like Mars Science Laboratory is the mission, and Curiosity is its rover. Note especially that Mars 2020 has two spacecraft – Perseverance and the Mars Helicopter Scout – and the topic of this article at this time is still very much the mission rather than solely the rover, including information on the latter spacecraft. – PhilipTerryGraham (talk · articles · reviews) 19:11, 5 March 2020 (UTC)
• Comment - I've only recently become aware of this discussion - as OA of the recent name change (to "Perseverance (rover)" from "Mars 2020"), perhaps "Perseverance (mission)" would be preferred? - afaik, NASA hasn't (yet) announced an official name for the mission (although "Mars 2020" may be a fallback name for the mission I would think atm) - for my part, I'm *entirely* flexible with whatever "WP:CONSENSUS" decides re the mission name - hope this helps in some way - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk)
• Oppose per PhilipTerryGraham. The page move was premature at best and must be undone. Jonathunder (talk) 20:05, 5 March 2020 (UTC)
• Comment - @Jonathunder and PhilipTerryGraham: FWIW - "undoing" the move and restoring the original article name of "Mars 2020" is *entirely* ok with me - seems this "undoing" procedure may require a special process ("undoing" the move by the usual procedure doesn't seem to work for me at the moment) - thanks. Drbogdan (talk) 20:34, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

• Comment @PhilipTerryGraham, Drbogdan, and Jonathunder: And anyone else who comes across this discussion. Do you feel this should be moved back to Mars 2020 till discussion is over as it was incorrectly moved or should it just be left and possible splitting the Helicopter and Rover should be done later? -AndrewRG10 (talk) 21:04, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

@AndrewRG10 and Drbogdan: Drbogdan didn't have a right to move the page before this discussion closed, so it should be moved back ASAP. – PhilipTerryGraham (talk · articles · reviews) 22:21, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

@PhilipTerryGraham: I'd love to do it but I've only been editing articles for a year so I don't know how to undo moves. If possible could you get that done ASAP -AndrewRG10 (talk) 23:55, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

@AndrewRG10: I don't have admin powers/permissions to be able to perform this move back, sorry. – PhilipTerryGraham (talk · articles · reviews) 00:13, 6 March 2020 (UTC)

• Request - @Huntster: (or other available administrator) - Seems there may be a need for help in restoring the "Mars 2020" title to the currently named "Perseverance (rover)" article - the concern is that a special "undo" process may be required - nonetheless - if, after viewing the above page move discussion, any comments, that such a page move may not be indicated after all for some reason, would be welcome of course - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 00:29, 6 March 2020 (UTC)
• Comment - The Curiosity rover Wikipedia entry was not split off from Mars Science Laboratory until the day it landed. I think that was not ideal, and hopefully there is enough material now to have two articles for the 2020 mission. Schierbecker (talk) 08:02, 7 March 2020 (UTC)
• Comment - I think we definetely should work to cut down this article and move most of the rover information to Perseverance_(rover), and yes, preferbly before the day it lands like happened with Curiosity. -AndrewRG10 (talk) 08:19, 7 March 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose per NASA still referring to the mission as "Mars 2020" and per WP:CONSISTENT. Mars Exploration Rover has a separate page from Spirit (rover) and Opportunity (rover). As mentioned by others, Mars Science Laboratory has a separate page from Curiosity (rover). The content relevant to the rover should be moved to Perseverance (rover) and the rest of the content should remain. TXAggie (talk) 23:19, 8 March 2020 (UTC)