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Photo of Laylah in Starfield

How to Find the Heart of Mars in Starfield

We've found the heart, now where's the face?

If you’re going around eavesdropping or speaking to everyone on Cydonia, there’s a good chance you’ll run into Laylah—a yellow jumpsuit-clad miner with a legend to tell. Apparently, somewhere on this forsaken red planet, there’s a mineral of legend. The Heart of Mars. But is it real? Here’s how to find the Heart of Mars in Starfield.

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Starfield: How to Find the Heart of Mars—Exact Location

This quest is given by Laylah, who is in the Central Hub on Cydonia (Mars). If you have started the quest Red Tape Blues, then Laylah will be right by Trevor.

Mars is a planet of minerals, ferociously fracked to keep our spaceships in space. But what if there was a unique resource embedded on the Marian surface? What if it was only a hop, skip, and a jump away?

That’s what Laylah, a miner in Cydonia, claims. And if you speak to her about it, she’ll mark it on your map for you. If you haven’t found Laylah, yet, there’s a very good chance that she’ll be in the indoor pit in Cydonia, where the tanks, robots, and miners are. You can get to this pit by entering Cydonia and going straight until you find a bunch of stairs (or a big drop, if you feel like jumping).

Laylah will warn you that the Heart of Mars is cursed, but who cares? Here’s how to get to it easily, without running all around the desert.

Once Laylah marks it on your map, open your mission menu. Select Heart of Mars.

On the bottom of your screen, you’ll see the prompt to “Set Course.” Click this, and you’ll be brought to the map of Mars, with a new location called “Cave.”

Select “Travel,” and you’ll immediately be brought to the Cave.

Starfield screenshot of the heart of mars cave
Screenshots by Prima Games

Now, just head inside and follow the dark path right. The cave is quite dark, so it’s a good idea to turn on your flashlight. If you don’t know how to do this, press and hold the same button that lets you Scan.

The Heart of Mars will be your average-sized mineral. Use your Cutter to remove it, and you’ll find that it’s heavy. It has a Mass of 10.0. But it’s also worth 20,000 credits.

Starfield screenshot of the heart of mars
Screenshot by Prima Games

With the Heart in your inventory, you can then open up your menu, select Mission, select Heart of Mars, and then again “Set Course.” The menu to travel to Cydonia will pop up again.

Report to Laylah (again, we found her in the pit). She’ll be shell-shocked but congratulate you on your find. What you do with it now is up to you!

And if you’re curious… the Heart of Mars really doesn’t serve a purpose other than being very valuable. We carried that giant, heavy rock through an entire playthrough and then some. It’s not used for any recipes or any other quests. So, sell away! The Trade Union will probably have enough credits to afford it.

But you know who could really use your help while you’re in the pit in Cydonia? A young miner with lung rot and a stalker father.

Solutions for the Heart of Mars Bug in Starfield

Some players have reportedly encountered a bug during the Heart of Mars quest. The Heart of Mars glitches beneath the floor, preventing you from mining with your cutter tool. We have an easy workaround until an official patch comes out.

Warning:

Using the console command method could prevent your Starfield achievements from working. Only use this method if you don’t care about that.

  1. Open the command console by pressing the Tilde key (~).
  2. You’ll need to disable collision by typing “tcl.”
  3. Next, you’ll need to clip through the floor.
  4. Once you’ve gone through the floor, use your cutter to mine the boulder, ensuring that you are close enough for the prompt.
  5. Type “tcl” again to enable collision once more.


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Author
Image of Daphne Fama
Daphne Fama
A Staff Writer at Prima Games since 2022, Daphne Fama spends an inordinate amount playing games of all stripes but has a soft spot for horror, FPS, and RPGs. When she’s not gaming, she’s an author and member of the Horror Writers Association with a debut novel coming out in 2025. In a previous life, she was an attorney but found she preferred fiction to contracts and forms
Author
Image of Michael Dawson
Michael Dawson
Michael Dawson is a skilled writer on pop culture, video games, and film/TV. He has 8+ years of experience writing on various topics and for multiple publications. He loves Elden Ring, Zelda, Mario, Metal Gear solid, competitive games, horror, and indies.