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Mars’s core has been measured — and it’s surprisingly large

Mars becomes the first inner planet after Earth to have the size of its core estimated with seismology.
  1. Alexandra Witze
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Scientists have peered into the heart of Mars for the first time. NASA’s InSight spacecraft, sitting on the Martian surface with the aim of seeing deep inside the planet, has revealed the size of Mars’s core by listening to seismic energy ringing through the planet’s interior.

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Nature 591, 514-515 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00696-7

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 25 March 2021: This story has been corrected to reflect that, aside from this new measurement on Mars, only Earth and the Moon have had their cores measured using seismology.

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