New research suggests that the core of Mars could be a smaller, denser ball of molten iron than previously believed.
Over the past several decades, we’ve continued to learn more and more about the Martian world. Rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance help us learn more about ancient riverbeds and the possibility that life once existed on the Red Planet. And now, data captured by NASA’s now-retired InSight lander could teach us more about the core of Mars. Previously, it was believed that Mars's core could be a large object that isn’t very dense.
To fully understand how we ended up here, we have to look at previous theories that Mars was once covered in a massive ocean of magma, which eventually formed into a heterogeneous mantle of iron, silicates, and radioactive elements. All of which went on to produce heat. While InSight’s seismic data supported this possibility, it didn’t consider the volatility of those elements and how easily they would evaporate when heated enough.
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