Scientists have only known for about 100 years: inside, how the earth is in its inside is built up. Mars is now only the second planet where such an insight into the internal structure has been achieved. This was made possible by the Mars probe Insight, which has been listening for earthquakes on the surface of the Red Planet since the end of 2018. Over 700 marsquakes are said to have been measured so far. An image of the planet can be created using the seismic waves. The results have now been processed in three studies. Conclusion: Mars is quite similar to the earth in its interior, but has bigger differences.
Insight: Mars has a liquid core
Like the earth, Mars has one inside liquid core – at least on the outside. It has not yet been possible to determine whether the Martian core, like that of the earth, is solid at its core. In any case, the size of the core is 1,830 kilometers in radius. The earth’s core is about twice as large with a radius of almost 3,500 kilometers. However, Mars is only about half the size of Earth in radius. According to the Insight data, the overlying liquid rock mantle is at least around 1,500 kilometers thick, as reported by br.de. The mantle consists – unlike on earth – only from a rock layer.
When it comes to the crust of Mars, scientists are not entirely in agreement as to whether it consists of two or three layers. Depending on the situation, the Martian crust is 20 or 39 kilometers thick at the point where the Mars probe is located. Compared to the continental crust on earth, the Martian crust would be very thin if it were only two layers, according to the geologist Brigitte Knapmeyer-Endrun from the University of Cologne, who was involved in one of the three studies. Overall, the crust on Mars is said to be between 24 and 72 kilometers thick.
