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.

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

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.