Scientists May Have Finally Detected a Solid Inner Core on Mars

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By Javier Barbuzano, Eos/AGU. 

Excerpt: Almost a decade after NASA’s InSight mission put the first working seismometer on the Martian surface, ...scientists reported seismic evidence that Mars has a solid inner core, an unexpected finding that challenges earlier studies that suggested the planet’s core was entirely molten. ...the interior of Mars has layers... [with] different densities and can be solid or liquid. As seismic waves move through the layers, they are bent or reflected, especially at boundaries where density changes sharply. ...Previous analyses of InSight data had already mapped the structure of the Martian crust and mantle and also revealed that the planet has a surprisingly large molten metallic core, spanning nearly half its radius. ...the new finding caught InSight scientists off guard.... 


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