Scientists have used orbiters and rovers to find dried streams, lakes, and gullies on Mars that hint at its watery past, but their cavalry of robots has struggled to prove the Red Planet ever had an actual ocean.

Mars once featured sun-soaked, sandy beaches with gentle, lapping waves from an ancient ocean, a new study suggests. Why it matters: The research marks the "clearest evidence yet" that the Red Planet once contained a major body of water and a more livable environment for life,

Data obtained by the Chinese Zhurong Martian rover has revealed what look like sandy beaches on Mars's northern plains.

Researchers just discovered evidence to suggest that Mars was once home to oceans and sandy beaches on the red planet, according to data published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The evidence comes from data collected by China’s Zhurong Mars rover, which landed in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars in 2021. Unlike other rovers traversing the planet, Zhurong arrived with high- and low-frequency radar systems that allow it to conduct ground-penetrating scans of the Martian subsurface.

Mars – dusty, dry, and desert-clad – was once so rich in water it had not just lakes, but oceans, according to a new study. Observations using ground-penetrating radar have revealed underground features consistent with beaches on the red planet,

New research provides the clearest evidence yet that Mars once contained a significant body of water and a more habitable environment for life.