Luna Labs has selected UNC Greensboro (UNCG) chemistry professor Nicholas Oberlies to lead a NASA-funded project exploring whether fungi can be grown into building materials for construction on the moon and Mars. The project will investigate whether certain fungi can be combined with regolith — loose rock and soil found on the surface of the moon and other planets — to create materials that could one day support construction in places other than Earth.

The University of Portsmouth, as part of Space South Central (SSC), one of the UK’s largest regional space clusters, is leading a new international partnership with Saudi space-tech company SARsatX. Together, they are developing the concept for an Earth observation satellite mission aimed at supporting a range of sectors, including climate science and environmental resilience.

Tiny life forms tucked into debris from an asteroid hit could catapult to other planets – including Earth – and survive, a new Johns Hopkins University study finds.

The work demonstrates that a certain hardy bacterium easily withstands extreme pressure comparable to an ejection from Mars after an asteroid hit, as well as the inhospitable conditions it would face during the ensuing interplanetary journey.