Aeolis Mons
The rover Curiosity landed on August 6, 2012, near the base of Aeolis Mons.
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| Location | Gale crater on Mars |
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| Coordinates | 5°05′S 137°51′E / 5.08°S 137.85°ECoordinates: 5°05′S 137°51′E / 5.08°S 137.85°E |
| Peak | Aeolis Mons – 5.5 km (18,000 ft) high |
| Discoverer | NASA in the 1970s |
| Eponym | Aeolis Mons – Aeolis albedo feature Mount Sharp – Robert P. Sharp (1911–2004) |
Mount Sharp, officially Aeolis Mons (IPA: [ˈiːəlɨs ˈmɒnz]), is a mountain on Mars. It forms the central peak within Gale crater and is located around 5°05′S 137°51′E / 5.08°S 137.85°E, rising 5.5 km (18,000 ft) high from the valley floor. It has the ID of 15,000 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature from the US Geological Survey.
On August 6, 2012, Curiosity (the Mars Science Laboratory rover) landed in "Yellowknife" Quad 51 of Aeolis Palus, next to the mountain. NASA named the landing site Bradbury Landing on August 22, 2012. Aeolis Mons is a primary goal for scientific study. On June 5, 2013, NASA announced that Curiosity would begin a 8 km (5.0 mi) journey from the Glenelg area to the base of Aeolis Mons. On November 13, 2013, NASA announced that an entryway Curiosity would traverse on its way to Aeolis Mons was to be named "Murray Buttes", in honor of planetary scientist Bruce C. Murray (1931–2013). The trip was expected to take about a year and would include stops along the way to study the local terrain.
On September 11, 2014, NASA announced that the Curiosity rover had reached Aeolis Mons, the rover mission's long-term prime destination.
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