Big news from space: Scientists have confirmed that Mars has a solid inner core—just like Earth’s. Using fresh data, they found this core is about 600km across, which is roughly one-fifth the size of the whole planet.
A team led by Professors Sun Daoyuan and Mao Zhu from University of Science and Technology of China used seismic data from NASA’s InSight lander to map what’s inside Mars.
The inner core is mostly a tough iron-nickel mix with some sulfur, oxygen, and carbon thrown in.
InSight has been picking up marsquakes since 2018, helping researchers get this detailed look.
This discovery highlights the role of international collaboration in advancing planetary science and brings us closer to understanding how Mars evolved over billions of years.
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