Talk:Herschel Orbital Reconnaissance of the Uranian System

Article for deletion
The one and only cited source for this "HORUS" article is an Lunar and Planetary Institute abstract at a meeting from 5 years ago. Typically, these abstracts are not peer-reviewed. They are sometimes written my scientists wanting to generate interest in a project so that it might advance from an early stage of "mission concept" to a stage of being formally "proposed" to a space agency, then studied for practicality, then considered for funding, then funded, then built, then tested, then launched etc. The cited abstract does not give any indication that the HORUS mission has ever advanced beyond a "mission concept". Perhaps I'm wrong, maybe HORUS is full-speed-ahead going to happen, but I don't see any evidence for it. According to google scholar, the LPI HORUS abstract has not been cited in any other publication of any type.

I think it is worth recognizing that lots of talks (and abstracts) are given at scientific conferences about things that might be done. When I visit the LPI site for the conference where the HORUS abstract was given, type in mission concept (as an exact phrase), I find 11 abstracts on different mission concepts. Do we need a wikiarticle about all of them? What about other conferences where "mission concepts" are discussed? I think the answer is "no". My opinion: runt articles like this one on HORUS are a distraction, and they don't deserve to be retained in Wikipedia. I also think the energy of editors is best focussed on improving the many articles that already exist. Yes, when we need a new article, it can be created, but there needs to be a real reason to create a new article.

I'm in favor of this article, on "HORUS", being deleted. I've tried in the past to initiate the AfD process, but I've found it kind of confusing. Perhaps a more experienced editor can initiate this? I would support it. Thank you, Isambard Kingdom (talk) 14:48, 27 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Well, the main reason for the article being created is that it's linked to from Exploration of Uranus. There are very few - about four, including this - missions proposed for Uranus. It's not like Jupiter or Saturn, which have numerous proposals. Instead, it's one of the only proposals. I say keep it primarily for that reason. DN-boards1 (talk) 14:58, 27 August 2015 (UTC)