Listening to the heart of Mars has dealt a fresh blow on the hope of ever finding signs of life on the red planet.

Astronomers used a Nasa machine called InSight, which was designed to study vibrations on our neighbouring world and analysed two events that created seismic data: a Marsquake and a meteorite crashing into the far side of the planet.

Vibrations travelled the entire way through Mars and were detected on the other side of the planet by InSight’s apparatus.

Data processing enabled scientists to listen to the seismic activity and learn what was at the very centre of Mars.

They determined its core was made of liquid metal, mainly iron, but also with bountiful sulphur, some carbon and a “sprinkling of hydrogen”.

The core has a radius of about 1,100 miles, data show, making it slightly smaller and denser than had been thought previously.

Seismic waves from the Marsquale and meteorite impact travelled directly through the middle of the planet and through the core, but some bounced around the rocky mantle.

By comparing the two different routes, the scientists were able to determine how the core affected the waves, and what it must look like to create such differences.

“We’ve effectively been listening for energy travelling through the heart of another planet, and now we’ve
heard it,” said study author Dr Jessica Irving from Bristol University.

The team obtained the first elastic data of the core as well as improving on knowledge of the chemical composition and size of the core.

They found that a fifth of the Martian core is made of light elements, a higher proportion than Earth.

As a result, the core is not as dense as Earth’s which is made of a higher percentage of iron.

Meanwhile, scientists have released the most detailed images and observations of Mars’s smallest moon Deimos.

The images were taken by the UAE Space Agency’s Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) Hope probe during recent fly-bys.

In another first, the probe flew as close as 100km to Deimos, during which it was able to record the images.

This included areas on the far side of the moon that have not been possible to investigate in great detail before.

One of the pictures captures the red planet drifting into view during the probe’s closest approach.

Researchers have limited knowledge about Deimos and Phobos (Mars’s biggest moon), and the new observations represent a step forward in their knowledge of Deimos, its atmosphere, composition, origins and what this means for our understanding of Mars.

For example, researchers suggest the new observations appear to challenge the long-standing theory that Mars’s moons are captured asteroids and instead point to a planetary origin.

The findings will be presented at the European Geosciences Union general assembly.