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.

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.

A Chinese rover that landed on Mars in 2021 detected evidence of underground beach deposits in an area thought to have once been the site of an ancient sea, providing further evidence that the planet long ago had a large ocean.