Mysterious changes near Earth’s core revealed by satellites in space

Witze, Alexandra

2 min read Original article ↗

Orbiters can pick up gravitational shifts thousands of kilometres below the surface.

A concept illustration of the GRACE spacecraft in orbit over the Earth.

The GRACE satellites, which flew one in front of the other from 2002 to 2017 (shown in this artist rendering), detected gravitational changes on Earth. Credit: NASA

Material deep inside Earth — thousands of kilometres down, near the planet’s core — has undergone a mysterious shift.

Nature 645, 829 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03007-6

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 17 September 2025: An earlier version of this story said that Isabelle Panet is at Gustav Eiffel University in Paris. She is at that university, but her primary affiliation is Paris City University.

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