Opportunity is exploring 'Marathon Valley' on the rim of Endeavour crater, investigating outcrops for evidence of clay minerals. The rover is nearing the completion of its investigation within Marathon Valley. Opportunity is engaged in one of its final big in-situ campaigns inside Marathon Valley.
On Sol 4406 (June 15, 2016), the rover bumped about 10 inches (25 centimeters) to line up for some surface targets. On the following sol, Opportunity used the robotic arm to collect a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of the target and then placed the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) for a multi-hour integration.
Opportunity then on the next sol turned to line up with the next nearby target with a 17-inch (43-centimeter) bump. This was followed with a regular calibration of the MI with some 'sky flat' images.
The rover used the next two sols to collect a 360-degree Navigation Camera panorama and to perform a 'sky flat' calibration of the Panoramic Camera. Then, on Sol 4411 (June 20, 2016), Opportunity collected a Microscopic Imager mosaic of this new target and followed that with the APXS placement.
On Sol 4412 (June 21, 2016), Opportunity used the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) wire brush to brush clean that surface target and followed that with another MI mosaic and APXS placement and integration.
The next step will be to consider a RAT grind of that target.
As of Sol 4412 (June 21, 2016), the solar array energy production is 644 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.614 and a solar array dust factor of 0.721.
Total odometry is 26.60 miles (42.81 kilometers), more than a marathon.
