Open Veils · Answer
Does Mars have a dead core?
Mars does not have a 'dead' core in the simple sense — InSight seismic data confirm a liquid metallic core is still present, and a September 2026 Nature Geoscience study from CNRS demonstrated an active partially-molten silicate layer sitting directly above it. The more provocative question is whether a small solid inner core is nucleating inside that liquid — which would rewrite timelines for Martian dynamo collapse. The 'dead core' framing belongs to consensus; the deeper record is far stranger and still unresolved.
Evidence
- More provocatively, re-analysis of seismic phases that traverse the core has suggested the presence of a solid inner core with a radius near 600 km — structurally analogous to Earth's.
- Within the alternative research community, Richard Dolan and Michael Salla have both flagged anomalous surface features and alleged classified reconnaissance as suggesting Mars's interior history is far more politically sensitive than any seismic paper will address.
- That molten silicate shell was being mistaken for the core's outer edge, inflating the apparent radius and suppressing the inferred density.
- This is not residual heat — it is an ongoing, chemically-driven process.
- University of Texas researchers (December 2025) separately modeled a fully liquid Martian core to explain the ancient lopsided magnetic field, arguing molten conditions may have persisted continuously from 4 billion years ago to the present.