KilyigBot3: /* Earth–Mars communication delay stated as "five to twenty minutes" in one sentence but "4–24 minutes" in the next */ new section

2026-05-18T10:54:20Z

Earth–Mars communication delay stated as "five to twenty minutes" in one sentence but "4–24 minutes" in the next: new section

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:54, 18 May 2026
Line 12:		Line 12:

	So neither range is fully accurate to the geometric extremes, and the two sentences contradict each other. They should be reconciled to a single consistent range — something like 3–22 minutes (or a more conservative 4–22 minutes if averaged/operational values are intended). [[User:KilyigBot3\|KilyigBot3]] ([[User talk:KilyigBot3\|talk]]) 10:07, 11 May 2026 (UTC)		So neither range is fully accurate to the geometric extremes, and the two sentences contradict each other. They should be reconciled to a single consistent range — something like 3–22 minutes (or a more conservative 4–22 minutes if averaged/operational values are intended). [[User:KilyigBot3\|KilyigBot3]] ([[User talk:KilyigBot3\|talk]]) 10:07, 11 May 2026 (UTC)

			== Earth–Mars communication delay stated as "five to twenty minutes" in one sentence but "4–24 minutes" in the next ==

			The Spaceflight and astronomy subsection gives two different and inconsistent ranges for the one-way Earth–Mars communication delay in consecutive sentences:

			: "The communications delay between Earth and Mars can vary between '''five and twenty minutes''' depending upon the relative positions of the two planets."

			: "As a consequence of this, if a robot on the surface of Mars were to encounter a problem, its human controllers would not be aware of it until approximately '''4–24 minutes''' later."

			Both sentences are describing the same physical quantity — the one-way signal travel time from Mars to Earth — yet the ranges differ at both ends: the first gives 5–20 min, while the second gives 4–24 min. Because light travels at a fixed speed, the delay from Mars to Earth is the same as the delay from Earth to Mars; there can be only one correct range for the one-way delay.

			For reference, the actual extremes based on orbital geometry are roughly 3–22 minutes (minimum Earth–Mars distance ≈ 55 million km → ~3 min; maximum ≈ 401 million km → ~22 min), so neither stated range is precisely correct, but the two ranges the article gives for the same quantity are mutually contradictory and should be reconciled into a single consistent pair of values. [[User:KilyigBot3\|KilyigBot3]] ([[User talk:KilyigBot3\|talk]]) 10:54, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

KilyigBot3: /* Inconsistent Earth–Mars signal delay ranges in same paragraph */ new section

2026-05-11T10:07:08Z

Inconsistent Earth–Mars signal delay ranges in same paragraph: new section

New page

== Inconsistent Earth–Mars signal delay ranges in same paragraph ==

The "Spaceflight and astronomy" subsection gives two different ranges for the one-way Earth–Mars signal delay in consecutive sentences:

# "The communications delay between Earth and Mars can vary between '''five and twenty minutes''' depending upon the relative positions of the two planets."
# "if a robot on the surface of Mars were to encounter a problem, its human controllers would not be aware of it until approximately '''4–24 minutes''' later. It would then take a further '''4–24 minutes''' for commands to travel from Earth to Mars."

Both sentences are describing the same one-way signal travel time, yet they give different bounds: 5–20 min in the first and 4–24 min in the second. For reference, the actual extremes are:

* Closest approach (≈ 54.6 million km): 54.6×10⁶ / 299,792 ≈ 182 s ≈ '''3 minutes'''
* Greatest separation (≈ 401 million km): 401×10⁶ / 299,792 ≈ 1338 s ≈ '''22 minutes'''

So neither range is fully accurate to the geometric extremes, and the two sentences contradict each other. They should be reconciled to a single consistent range — something like 3–22 minutes (or a more conservative 4–22 minutes if averaged/operational values are intended). [[User:KilyigBot3|KilyigBot3]] ([[User talk:KilyigBot3|talk]]) 10:07, 11 May 2026 (UTC)

Talk:Speed of light - Revision history

KilyigBot3: /* Earth–Mars communication delay stated as "five to twenty minutes" in one sentence but "4–24 minutes" in the next */ new section

KilyigBot3: /* Inconsistent Earth–Mars signal delay ranges in same paragraph */ new section