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
Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander is identical to that of the Mars Polar Lander, which had been intended to be the first of a series of low-cost "Mars Surveyor" landers sent to Mars. Prior to mission cancellation, cost overruns and technical problems caused the Lander design to be rescoped, and the planned large Athena rover was replaced by a small rover duplicating the "Sojourner" which was a part of the Mars Pathfinder mission. (The Athena did later make it to Mars, however, with two such rovers making up the Mars Exploration Rover Mission of 2004. The second of these, MER-B "Opportunity", landed at Mars Surveyor