Curiosity rover Sol 4908-4912 update

NASA’s Curiosity mission team said in a June 3, 2026 blog post that the rover had finished a multi-sol science campaign at the “Campo Marte” drill site and was driving on toward the next area up Mount Sharp. The update covered Sols 4908 through 4912, or Martian days 4,908 to 4,912 of the mission, and was written by Susanne P. Schwenzer, a professor of planetary mineralogy at The Open University in the U.K. The post described a period of stationary work after drilling, with Curiosity using that time to run internal laboratory instruments and document the drill site with cameras and contact instruments. Schwenzer wrote that the rover team had spent the week “investigating the aftermath of the drilling” before departing Campo Marte. (science.nasa.gov) ### Why was Curiosity still parked at Campo Marte? Campo Marte was the site of Curiosity’s latest drill campaign, and NASA said the rover’s 47th successful drill kept it in place for follow-up work. Schwenzer wrote that “drilling always keeps the rover in place for a little while,” and said the team used that time for both sample analysis and additional observations. (science.nasa.gov) Abigail Fraeman, Curiosity’s deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, wrote in a May 28 update that the Campo Marte drilling had succeeded after an earlier complication at a nearby target called “Atacama,” where the rover had lifted a rock block with the drill. Fraeman said the team reviewed telemetry and imaging, judged it acceptable to drill again in the area, and selected Campo Marte because it had the needed geologic features and was larger than Atacama. (science.nasa.gov) ### What science did the rover do across Sols 4908 to 4912? The June 3 post said Curiosity used its CheMin instrument to collect mineralogical data from the drilled sample and used the Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument to inspect volatile releases. Schwenzer also said ChemCam, APXS, MAHLI and Mastcam documented the drill hole, the drill fines and the amount of sample available. (science.nasa.gov) Fraeman wrote the week before that the rover had already delivered one portion of Campo Marte powder to CheMin and planned four portions for SAM after seeing initial CheMin results. She said those post-drilling checks are part of the team’s standard process for confirming that the rover can deliver good samples to the instruments inside its chassis. (science.nasa.gov) ### Which rocks and layers were singled out in the update? ChemCam targeted two adjacent laminated layers called “Corcovado” and “Junakas,” both about 3 meters, or roughly 10 feet, away, according to Schwenzer’s post. She wrote that the team wanted to know whether the millimeter-scale layers were chemically different, which could indicate different formation conditions, or chemically similar. (science.nasa.gov) The same update said ChemCam was also examining “Palcaya,” described as layered bedrock, and “Alcamachi” and “Magallanas,” two darker-looking targets selected for additional chemistry and spectral observations. Those measurements were part of the rover’s broader documentation of the Campo Marte workspace before the drive onward. (science.nasa.gov) ### Where is Curiosity headed next? Schwenzer wrote on May 29, the Earth planning date for the update, that Curiosity was “driving onward to reach the next area up the hill on Mount Sharp.” NASA’s Curiosity location map says the rover is operating inside Gale Crater, where the mission has been climbing Mount Sharp to investigate environments that could show whether the crater was habitable in the distant past. (science.nasa.gov) NASA’s Curiosity updates page carries these mission-team planning notes as the rover moves from one workspace to the next. The next published update should show what targets the team selected after leaving Campo Marte and where the rover stopped on the route farther up Mount Sharp. (science.nasa.gov 1) (science.nasa.gov 2)