The pioneering discoveries used data from China's Zhurong rover, which touched down on the Red Planet in 2021 and operated for a year, shooting radar pulses 80m down into Mars's crust.
MARS once looked like a tropical holiday destination with sun-soaked beaches, lapping waves and gentle breezes - according to new evidence from a Chinese rover.
This helped scientists to conclude that Mars once had a large ocean of liquid water - something the planet is far too cold to support today, where temperatures sit around -65 Celsius.
The discovery of an ocean that once rippled across Mars's surface also raises new prospects that life could once have bloomed on our solar-system neighbour.
Scientists now believe there was a large ocean on the north side of the planet - and conditions that could have supported life - instead of today's dry, dusty plains.
