NASA animation reveals what Mars looked liken 4bn years ago

With its rolling mountains and pristine oceans this breathtaking visage, the red planet could be one of Norway's world-famous fjords or the spectacular alpine landscape of Switzerland, Mirror.co.uk report.

But  it is in fact a new NASA animation which aims to show what Mars could have once been like 4 billion years ago.

Astronomers and scientists alike have long wondered and speculated just what life was like - and if there was ever any life at all - on the surface of the Red Planet. 

The video shows the fourth planet from the Sun when it was young and pictures it with a thick atmosphere that was warm enough to support oceans of water, which of course is one of the key ingredients of life itself.

The animation sweeps outwards over a vast Martian lake and depicts rolling clouds and a vastly different landscape to what we recognise today.