Curiosity Weblog, Sols 4908-4912: Goodbye Campo Marte, It’s Been Enjoyable!

By Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at The Open University, UK

Earth planning date: Friday, May 29, 2026

Drilling at all times retains the rover in place for a short time, and our forty seventh profitable drill, “Campo Marte,” was no exception. The staff used the time correctly and on prime of the drilling, we even have many observations. Thinking for a very long time a few workspace at all times will get me connected to the world — some greater than others; on the shorter stops, particularly — when I’m on shift a number of occasions throughout this time. I used to be Science Operations Working Group chair 3 times whereas we had been right here, so it’s an actual “Goodbye” for me immediately as we’re driving onward to achieve the subsequent space up the hill on Mount Sharp.

The Campo Marte drill was profitable, as my colleague Abigail Fraeman reported final week. This week was spent investigating the aftermath of the drilling, which implies operating the CheMin instrument to get mineralogical information and the SAM instrument to examine the risky releases. ChemCam, APXS, MAHLI and Mastcam had been additionally busy documenting the drill gap and the drill fines, in addition to how a lot pattern there was out there total.

Of course, Curiosity additionally had an excellent take a look at the opposite attention-grabbing targets within the space! Besides all of the work on the drill gap, ChemCam carried out an professional’s concentrating on train by setting two targets as much as goal at two completely different layers on adjoining spots on the finely laminated sediments. That entails aiming at millimeter-sized targets, named “Corcovado” and “Junakas,” respectively, about 3 meters away (about 10 toes)! We are curious if the layers are chemically completely different, which might inform us about completely different formation circumstances, or if they’re related and the circumstances when these layers fashioned had been extra related. ChemCam can also be wanting on the goal “Palcaya” to get extra information on the chemistry of the layered bedrock, and can examine the goal “Alcamachi,” which is a float rock that appears intriguingly darkish. Maybe that tells us it’s bought a distinct chemistry? We will discover out after we get the info!

In addition to the chemistry measurements, ChemCam may also perform a spectral investigation on the goal “Magallanas,” which was a bit of too distant to additionally level the laser at it, however is intriguingly darkish. This final week, ChemCam additionally deliberate three long-distance RMIs to doc the sedimentary constructions — youthful and older ones — within the surrounding space. One of them drew the suspicion that it would break a document: it is perhaps the longest strip of RMI photographs we now have taken in a single mosaic! The jury is out, it’s 24 frames and this fashion hyperlinks up with an earlier, shorter set of photographs. The cause the mosaic is so lengthy is as a result of it photographs a small ridge with sedimentary textures that would inform us in regards to the depositional circumstances when the rock layers fashioned. But how cool is that — at 13+ years to nonetheless break our personal data?

Since our arrival, Mastcam has been very busy getting the complete area round us imaged. In addition, some higher-resolution mosaics have been taken, most notably one of many areas the place the remaining pattern was dropped, after which of the workspace to see once more how a lot pattern may — or won’t — have been left within the drill stem and fallen out when Curiosity did the motions which can be designed to shake any remaining pattern out of the drill, to go away it ready for the subsequent time. Another imaging process, however for MAHLI, is to at all times picture the pattern inlets, additionally, to see if they’re clear and ready for the subsequent pattern. I included the MAHLI picture of the CheMin inlet — don’t fear in regards to the little rock, it’s with us for some time, and the CheMin staff now calls it “our pet rock.”

APXS joined the drill-hole investigations and has been targeted on it much more than ordinary. The staff determined that this can be a superb alternative to extend counting statistics past the same old and well-tested ranges by considerably rising the measurement time. To obtain that, it measured the Campo Marte drill fines in all plans of this week. And on the final evening of that, MAHLI will get out its LED lights to complete the experiment with a glowing nighttime MAHLI experiment to doc all of it.

Our environmental staff has saved the rover busy by taking a look at atmospheric opacity, mud exercise, dust-devil exercise and, after all, additionally monitoring the surroundings normally. With all this completed, the rover will proceed its method up the hill to the subsequent attention-grabbing space. I heard one thing like “cross-bedding” throughout the discussions, however as a mineralogist, I simply word that that call was taken by individuals who know extra about sediments than I do, whereas I’m itching to see the CheMin mineralogy outcomes!