After more than a year of exploration, Opportunity has left 'Marathon Valley,' located on the rim of Endeavour Crater.
The rover has begun the next extended mission (ahead of schedule) after exiting through 'Lewis and Clark Gap' on Sol 4484 (Sept. 3, 2016). Opportunity is headed toward the first waypoint of the new extended mission.
Dust storms have been occurring as expected for this time of year, although none have threatened the rover. They have elevated the atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site, which is seen in the rover's lower daily energy production.
On Sols 4488 and 4489 (Sept. 7 and Sept. 9, 2016), the rover continued the collection of extensive Navigation Camera (Navcam) and color Panoramic Camera (Pancam) imagery.
On Sol 4491 (Sept. 11, 2016), the rover headed 26 meters exactly due east. This was followed by the collection post-drive Navcam and Pancam panoramas.
On Sol 4493 (Sept. 13, 2016), Opportunity drove again, about 121 feet (37 meters), making progress towards the first science waypoint of the new extended mission. An atmospheric argon measurement with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) was collected on that evening.
As of Sol 4493 (Sept. 13, 2016), the solar array energy production is 515 watt-hours with an elevated atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.889 and a solar array dust factor of 0.698.
Total odometry is 26.92 miles (43.33 kilometers).
