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Nasa has announced plans to grow plants on the moon by 2015 in a project designed to further humanity’s chances of successfully colonising space. Plant growth will be an important part of space exploration in the future as NASA plans for long-duration missions to the moon. NASA scientists anticipate that astronauts may be able to grow plants on the moon, and the plants could be used to supplement meals. If successful, the Lunar Plant Growth Habitat team will make history by seeding life from Earth on another celestial body for the first time, paving the way for humans to set...

Data that NASA's discovery wee a sample of Martian dirt could be earth-shattering, but the space agency is taking time to check its work. NASA's not sharing a 'historic' find on Mars... yet Data from a sample of Martian dirt could be earth-shattering, but the space agency is taking time to check its work. SAM, a mobile sample analysis lab, is currently mounted on Curiosity and finding interesting stuff in Martian soil. It seems NASA and the Curiosity rover have found something exciting and nerd-tastic on Mars, but the space agency's scientists are holding back for now, despite how painful...

Scientists found life on Mars back in the 70s By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 6:01pm BST 23/08/2007 The soil on Mars may indeed be teeming with microbes, according to a new interpretation of data first collected more than 30 years ago. Mars could be home to “extremophiles” The search for life on Mars appeared to hit a dead end in 1976 when Viking landers touched down on the red planet and failed to detect biological activity. There was another flurry of excitement a decade later, when Nasa thought it had found evidence of life in a Mars meteorite...

The hunt for evidence of life on Mars will go underground next year when a NASA probe digs beneath the surface of the red planet's arctic northern plains, US scientists revealed Monday. In a departure from previous missions -- which have seen robotic vehicles explore the planet's hills and craters -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will instead dig into Martian soil for conditions favorable to past or present life. US scientists want Phoenix to try and determine whether frozen water near the planet's surface might periodically melt enough to sustain a viable environment for microbes.

It was a science fiction fantasy come true: Ten years ago this summer, NASA announced the discovery of life on Mars. At a Washington, D.C., news conference, scientists showed magnified pictures of a four-pound Martian meteorite riddled with wormy blobs that looked like bacterial colonies. The researchers explained how they had pried numerous clues from the rock, all strongly supporting their contention that microscopic creatures once occupied its nooks and crannies. It was arguably the space agency's most imagination-gripping moment since Apollo. Space buffs and NASA officials said that it just might be the scientific discovery of the century. "If...