Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Left Navigation Camera image taken on May 2, 2026.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“There was excitement in the air as the Curiosity Science Team kicked off a drill campaign at the Atacama site to characterize the first Mount Sharp layered-sulfate bedrock since leaving the boxwork terrain,” explains Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

A recent three-sol plan (4873-4875) focused on “drill sol 1” activities that included a pre-load test on Curiosity’s drill target as well as triage contact science.

Variations in the bedrock

The robot’s Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) assembled a set of repeated observations on the Atacama drill target, and the coordinated Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) images taken with different lighting will provide an opportunity to detect possible changes between the datasets.

Mastcam assembled stereo mosaics to document the Atacama drill site, investigate variations in the bedrock at “Kimsa Chata,” and characterize the layering within Paniri butte.

Another three-sol plan (4876-4878) included the full drill and portion characterization related to “drill sols 2 and 3” activities.

Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera photo taken on May 2, 2026.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Rock broken by rover drive 

Mastcam planned stereo mosaics of rocks in the workspace including a laminated rock with an exposed edge named “Queen of the Andes,” a rock with polygonal fractures that was broken when the rover drove over it named “Curaco,” and more coverage of the “El Almendrillo” target.

Rounding out the plans, the Environmental theme group continued to monitor dust in the atmosphere, study cloud movements, and document the presence of dust devils. The rover will also autonomously select two targets to be analyzed by the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument.

Drill campaign

Mars scientists look forward to continuing the drill campaign, where the next step will be delivering a portion of the Atacama target to the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument for analysis.

The science team is looking forward to seeing how the mineralogy of the layered sulfate unit here compares to the last drill of the same unit at the Mineral King site, which is nearly 160 meters (525 feet) below the rover’s current location, Purdy concludes.