Pakistan, Jan. 18 -- NASA scientists are working on a bizarre mushroom Moon and Mars base project that could result in lunar structures being built onsite out of living fungi.

Lynn Rothschild, the principal investigator on the early-stage project, said: "Right now, traditional habitat designs for Mars are like a turtle - carrying our homes with us on our backs - a reliable plan, but with huge energy costs.

"Instead, we can harness mycelia to grow these habitats ourselves when we get there."

She added: "When we design for space, we're free to experiment with new ideas and materials with much more freedom than we would on Earth.

"And after these prototypes are designed for other worlds, we can bring them back to ours."

Astronauts could...