Crater mound a prize and puzzle for Mars rover

The object of desire for scientists with the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission rises mysteriously from the centre of Gale Crater: it is Mount Sharp, a 5.5-kilometre-tall mound of layered sediments that time and pressure have squeezed into a mountain of rock. If all goes well with the mission landing, set for 05:31 GMT on 6 August, NASA's Curiosity rover will spend its working life climbing up the lower part of the mountain, which is named after Robert Sharp, a pioneer of planetary geology who died in 2004. Researchers hope that as the compact-car-sized rover ascends Mount Sharp, it will unpack the hundreds of millions of years of Martian history that are hidden in the mountain's layers.