Lakes on Mars Mons (previously informally named "Mount Sharp" to pay tribute to geologist Robert P. Sharp) rising higher from the crater floor than Mount Rainier rises above Seattle. Strong evidence uggests that Gale Crater once held a large lake. On August 6, 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory landed on Aeolis Palus near Aeolis Mons in Gale Crater. On August 5, 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, ""Curiosity", landed at the foot of a layered mountain inside Gale crater. As the mission progressed, discoveries and conclusions were released from NASA detailing the mounting evidence that Gale once contained a large lake. On September
Sol (day on Mars) Mars Sol Date is defined mathematically as MSD = (Julian Date using International Atomic Time - 2451549.5 + "k")/1.02749125 + 44796.0, where "k" is a small correction of approximately 0.00014 d (or 12 s) due to uncertainty in the exact geographical position of the prime meridian at Airy-0 crater. The word "yestersol" was coined by the NASA Mars operations team early during the MER mission to refer to the previous sol (the Mars version of "yesterday"), and came into fairly wide use within that organization during the Mars Exploration Rover Mission of 2003. It was eventually picked up and used