You’ll encounter lots of missions in Starfield, beyond just the ones that advance the main plot. Some of them contribute to your progress with one of the available factions. Other missions are standalone affairs, such as one that asks you to find valuable ore known locally as the Heart of Mars. Here is our guide telling you how to find the Heart of Mars in Starfield.
Starfield – how to find the Heart of Mars
You can initiate the Heart of Mars side mission once you have visited and talked to enough people in Cydonia, the city on Mars. You’ll receive an Activities prompt instructing you to speak with Laylah. To find the Heart of Mars, receive coordinates from Laylah, and then follow those coordinates to a mine near Cydonia.
First, find Laylah. In Cydonia, head forward along the main corridor after entering through the air lock. If you continue forward, you’ll find stairs descending to the lower level, where miners are at work. Laylah is working on some rock near the base of the stairs. Talk to her and ask about the Heart of Mars. She will give you coordinates, which initiates the Heart of Mars mission.
Screenshot: PC Invasion
Fast travel to the Cave environment. You should appear just outside its opening. Head inside and veer to the left as you proceed. The cave has low gravity, like the surface of Mars itself. Jump up some ledges and make your way to the back of the cave to find the Heart of Mars ore. Then use your Cutter laser to extract it. You don’t have to charge it up or anything. Once you get the ore, take it back to Laylah to receive 100 XP and complete the mission.
Related: How to equip Old Mars Skin in Starfield
It appears that the Heart of Mars mission is glitched for some players. I have heard that for some players, there are clipping issues. You must access console commands to make it appear and extract it. For other players, it may appear readily but be impossible to extract. This condition may persist until a patch addresses it, but clearly doesn’t impact all players. I was fortunate enough to not encounter it. Before I ever took on the quest, I had surveyed the planet. That may or may not make a difference. In any event, Heart of Mars is an easy mission… provided the ore appears where it should and lets you extract it.
Starfield is available to purchase on Steam and the Microsoft Store.
