Named after former NASA planetary scientist Robert Sharp, it is known to have lots of minerals at its base and many layers of rock to study.

Scientists want to understand how towering Mount Sharp came to be in the middle of a crater. The mountain doesn't seem to have a volcanic history, leading some to theorize it was carved out of the crater by powerful, circular winds.

(Pictures: Mars Rover's "Crazy" Landing, Step by Step.)

However it came to be, the mountain offers the best look ever at the geology of Mars. Gale Crater is known to be more than three billion years old, and so Mount Sharp is expected to have a geological history—present in the layering and composition of