ESA's Mars Express radar gives strong evidence for former Mars ocean

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ESA's Mars Express has returned strong evidence for an ocean once covering part of Mars. Using radar, it has detected sediments reminiscent of an ocean floor within the boundaries of previously identified, ancient shorelines on Mars.

"MARSIS penetrates deep into the ground, revealing the first 60–80 metres of the planet's subsurface," says Wlodek Kofman, leader of the radar team at IPAG.

"Throughout all of this depth, we see the evidence for sedimentary material and ice."

this work provides some of the best evidence yet that there were once large bodies of liquid water on Mars and is further proof of the role of liquid water in the martian geological history.

This has been speculated on for a long time and with differing opinions.
Its seems though this is considered to have been a temporary ocean of less than 1 million years and not around long enough to have sustained life.

(We really don't need to see the picture of the mars bar with a glass of water again- thanks.)

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