Mars' core, measured on seismic waves, found to be 'surprisingly' large and thin

Marsquakes, or seismic tremors on Mars, have revealed hitherto unknown aspects about the anatomy of the red planet. The findings, now published over three studies in the Science journal, were the result of a thorough analysis of the Martian surface carried out by Nasa's InSight probe which landed on the planet three years ago. Among other things, the InSight probe has revealed that Mars has an unexpectedly large core, with a whopping 1,830km radius -- just over half of the planet’s radius. These may have resulted from vibrations caused by meteorites hitting the surface or from processes inside the planet, but over time the probe learned to pick up relatively small quakes, the best among the hundreds detected so far, despite the extremes of Martian weather and seasonally changing windy periods obscuring the data. "This means that the crust of Mars is very old, and it is rather thin," Reuters quoted seismologist Brigitte Knapmeyer-Endrun of the University of Cologne in Germany, who led one of the three studies on the Martian interior published in the journal Science.