Marsquakes indicate a solid core for the red planet

Scientists revealed Sept. 3 that Mars’ innermost core appears to be a solid hunk of metal just like Earth’s.

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The Chinese-led research team based their findings on seismic readings from NASA’s InSight lander on Mars, which recorded more than 1,300 marsquakes before shutting down in 2022. The spacecraft landed on a broad plain near Mars’ equator in 2018.

Previous studies pointed to liquid at the heart of the red planet. The latest findings indicate the inner core, while small, is indeed solid and surrounded by molten metal — a liquid outer core.

The Martian inner core extends from the planet’s center out to a radius of approximately 613 kilometers, according to the scientists whose findings appeared in the journal Nature.