Liquid water on the surface of the moon has been found to'hop' around various cold spots on the lunar surface due to a complex and intricate sequence of events. Temperatures rise during the moon's daytime and at lunar noon it is sufficiently warm enough to cause water to leave the soil - known as the regolith. It then either bounces to the nearest cold location or rises into the atmosphere before being reabsorbed. It was spotted by the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Scientists say this discovery could allow for a constant supply of water for planned long-term manned missions to the moon.

The first humans to colonise the red planet will be living in luxury on the barren wasteland, experts claim. Martian mansions will feature gyms, spas and the best views overlooking the rouge landscape. A slice of the high-end real estate market on Mars is expected to cost around £2.5 million ($3.3 million). Experts create designs for three homes on our galactic neighbour to mark the launch of National Geographic's second series of MARS. Martian mansions will feature gyms, spas and the best views overlooking the rouge landscape.

Oxygen on-board future space missions will be made from the recycled breath of astronauts. The Advanced Closed Loop System (ACLS) has been built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is now being installed on-board the orbiting spacecraft. The apparatus recycles half the carbon dioxide (CO2) exhaled by astronauts and converts it into oxygen. Scientists have heralded the invention as an important step towards long-term missions to mars and beyond. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst poses with the ACLS life-support rack, newly installed on the International Space Station.

Salts found in Martian soil could be transformed into breathable air thanks to a bacteria created in the lab by a group of students. Their genetically engineered organism can convert perchlorate - a chemical compound that covers over one per cent of Mars - into oxygen. The did so by placing a solution containing the salt into a bioreactor with the engineered bacteria. It then broke the compound down into its building blocks, chloride and oxygen, the latter of which was then harvested. NASA aims to have humans on Mars by 2030 and, if successful, a colony may be built in the future.

The first humans to colonise the red planet will be living in luxury on the barren wasteland, experts claim. Martian mansions will feature gyms, spas and the best views overlooking the rouge landscape. A slice of the high-end real estate market on Mars is expected to cost around £2.5 million ($3.3 million). Experts create designs for three homes on our galactic neighbour to mark the launch of National Geographic's second series of MARS. Martian mansions will feature gyms, spas and the best views overlooking the rouge landscape.

They are the bricks that could build mankind's first home on another planet. European Space Agency officials have revealed the latest'moon bricks' that could soon be used to construct a lunar habitat. They say the bricks are the starting point to building up a permanent lunar outpost and breaking explorers' reliance on Earth supplies. This 1.5 tonne building block was produced as a demonstration of 3D printing techniques using lunar soil. The surface of the Moon is covered in grey, fine, rough dust.

Frozen water has been found on the surface of the moon for the first time following the use of high tech satellite scans. Experts say they have detected ice in areas of permanent shadow in the moon's polar regions. They used an imaging technique that can tell different types of water apart, including that on the surface, absorbed into the soil, or bound in minerals. Water has previously been found in the moon's soil, but this is believed to be the first time it has been detected on the surface. Surface water ice was only located in around 3.5 per cent of the moon's shadow covered areas.

An Israeli non-profit group plans to land an unmanned spacecraft on the moon in February in the first landing of its kind since 2013. The craft, which is shaped like a round table with four carbon fiber legs, is set to blast off in December from Florida's Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, said Ido Anteby, chief executive of the SpaceIL non-profit. It aims to transmit pictures and videos back to earth over two days after it lands on Feb. 13 as well as measuring magnetic fields. The craft, which is shaped like a round table with four carbon fiber legs, is set to blast off in December from Florida's Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, said Ido Anteby, chief executive of the SpaceIL non-profit'Our spacecraft will be the smallest ever to land on the moon,' said Anteby. Since 1966, the United States and the former Soviet Union have put around 12 unmanned spacecraft on the moon using braking power to perform'soft' landings and China did so in 2013.

Setting up a permanent village on the moon is the first step towards exploring Mars, the European Space Agency said as plans to reach and colonise the Red Planet gathered pace. At an annual gathering of 4,000 global space experts in Adelaide, the ESA said the Moon was the'right place to be' as humans expand economic activities beyond low-Earth orbit, even while Mars remained the'ultimate destination'. 'We have been living in low-Earth orbit for the last 17 years on board a space station and we are on our journey to Mars for the first human mission,' ESA's Piero Messina told AFP at the congress. 'In between, we believe that there is an opportunity to create a permanent... sustainable presence on the surface of the Moon.' Reaching and colonising Mars has been viewed by private and public interests as the next stage in exploring the final frontier, and has been a key part of this year's International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide. Messina said the more immediate goal was to have a permanent presence on the Moon, even if it was just a robot, by the end of the next decade.

RIGA – By 2040, 100 people will live on the moon, melting ice for water, 3-D printing homes and tools, eating plants grown in lunar soil, and competing in low-gravity "flying" sports. To those who mock such talk as science fiction, experts such as Bernard Foing, ambassador of the European Space Agency-driven "Moon Village" project, reply the goal is not only reasonable but feasible too. At a European Planetary Science Congress in Riga this week, Foing spelled out how humanity could gain a permanent foothold on Earth's satellite, and then expand. He likened it to the growth of the railways, when villages grew around train stations, followed by businesses. By 2030, there could be an initial lunar settlement of six to 10 pioneers -- scientists, technicians and engineers -- which could grow to 100 by 2040, he predicted.