Template:Did you know nominations/PrOP-M

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Theleekycauldron (talk) 01:30, 19 November 2021 (UTC)

PrOP-M on top of the Mars 3 lander

• ... that the Soviet rover PrOP-M (pictured) was intended to be the first rover on Mars, in 1971, 26 years earlier than NASA's Sojourner? Source: [1]
  • ALT1: ... that the first Mars rover, PrOP-M (pictured), was launched by Soviets in 1971, crashed, and remained secret for 20 years? Source: The presence of mobile vehicles on these missions had not been revealed for nearly 20 years.

Created by Artem.G (talk). Self-nominated at 16:39, 2 November 2021 (UTC).

• At the article's current state, it may need some work before it is ready for DYK. ALT0's hook fact doesn't seem to be mentioned directly in the article, only in the titles of the relevant references. The article is also in need of copyediting. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 13:46, 5 November 2021 (UTC)
  • @Narutolovehinata5: thanks for review! The fact is in the source, and 26 years is simply 1997-1971, should this simple math be stated in the source? Regarding copyediting: can you please point me to problematic sentences so I can rework the text? Artem.G (talk) 14:17, 5 November 2021 (UTC)
  • And, actually, there is this [2] book that says "26 years earlier". I will add this to the article a bit later today when I'll get my laptop. Artem.G (talk) 14:23, 5 November 2021 (UTC)

Well, for the hook to work, the relevant fact (that it was intended to be the first Mars rover) should explicitly be mentioned in the article. Simply being in the references is not sufficient. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 14:53, 5 November 2021 (UTC)

I've expanded the lead and added this fact into history section together with the ref. I would be grateful if you point me to the sentences in need of copyediting. Artem.G (talk) 16:15, 5 November 2021 (UTC)

Essentially, the entire article needs to be copyedited for grammar and flow. You can request a copyedit at WP:GOCE if you want. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 01:46, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

@Narutolovehinata5: done, the article was copyedited by an experienced GOCE member. Artem.G (talk) 05:44, 10 November 2021 (UTC)

Thank you. I will hopefully finish the full review by tomorrow. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 14:07, 12 November 2021 (UTC)

• Apologies for the delay in reviewing as real-life matters caught up with me. The article was new enough and long enough at the time of the nomination, and the hook facts are cited inline (assuming good faith for offline or Russian sources). I think ALT1 could be rewritten to focus on the fact that they were kept secret, rather than the rovers' mother spacecraft crashing. Since this is only the nominator's third nomination no QPQ is required at this time. Other than that my only other concern is that the first paragraph of the History section is unreferenced. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 10:55, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

• @Narutolovehinata5: ref added. About the ALT: rovers were secret only because both missions failed, so I think this should be in the hook. Artem.G (talk) 11:03, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Thank you for the edits, I think we're good to go now with ALT0. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 12:04, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

ALT0 to T:DYK/P4