Scientists have discovered what is in the core of Mars

The quakes that rumble through Mars have given scientists the tools they need to figure out

According to seismic data obtained with NASA's InSight lander, which monitored the bowels of the red planet for four years, the center of Mars is an alloy of liquid iron, with surprisingly large amounts of sulfur and oxygen mixed in

The center of Mars is an alloy of liquid iron, with surprisingly large amounts of sulfur and oxygen mixed in (Shutterstock).

It's information that can help scientists better understand the history of Mars and

: One planet is a barren, lifeless ball of dust, the other lush and teeming, reports

"In 1906, scientists first discovered the Earth's core by observing how seismic waves from earthquakes were affected by traveling through it," says University of Maryland geologist Vedran Lekic.

"More than a hundred years later, we are applying our knowledge of seismic waves to Mars. With InSight, we are finally discovering what is at the center of Mars and what makes Mars so similar to but different from Earth

"

The earthquakes gave the information

Earthquakes are not just rumbles that imply internal activity in any given object.

We now have the technology to use them as a kind of acoustic X-ray, says

They propagate outward from their point of origin, bouncing around inside a planet, moon, or star before coming to rest.

But the way they travel and reflect off certain materials allows scientists to generate maps of the interior compositions of these bodies.

Artist's impression of the path taken by seismic waves through the Martian core (NASA/JPL and Nicholas Schmerr).

During its relatively short time monitoring the interior of Mars, InSight detected

giving us detailed information about the Martian interior.

From this, scientists were able to compile the first detailed map of the bowels of Mars and learn more about the state of Martian interior activity.

Spoiler alert: It's not as dead inside as we thought, says

A tsunami and a meteorite impact

The Martian core remained unprobed, but in 2021, InSight recorded two tremendous events on the opposite side of the planet:

larger than anything the lander has detected,

that shook Mars.

Because these events occurred on the far side of the planet from InSight, the lander was able to analyze different waves: those that traveled around Mars and those that passed through it, giving us the first seismic waves we know moved through the planet. martian core.

These waves reveal the density and compressibility of the different materials they travel through, allowing a team led by planetary scientist Jessica Irving of the University of Bristol in the UK to analyze what the Martian core is made of. reports

The Chinese Zhurong rover on the ground of Mars (AP).

And this is where it is interesting.

Unlike Earth's core, which appears to be a liquid outer core, a solid inner core, and then an even denser inner core, the core of Mars appears to be soft

.

And Mars has a really high proportion of lighter elements mixed through the inner core.

About one-fifth of its weight is made up of these elements, predominantly

with lesser amounts of oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen.

This means that the core is less dense and more compressible than Earth's core, which could help scientists better understand the differences between the two planets,

Mars and Planet Earth.

This information could help refine our ability to

.

Mars and Earth are similar in many ways;

Finding out how they differ and why can help scientists determine which alien worlds are most likely to support life.

And it can teach us more about the different ways planets form, grow, and change over time, even from similar materials around the same star.

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