They will one day be homes for humans on the Moon or Mars, but for now, the first test extraterrestrial habitats are being built on Earth with the help of an unexpected material: mushrooms.

American architecture firm Red House is working with NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms to build new bio-habitats - homes made from living organisms - in space.

Red House is mixing the waste biomass from Namibia’s infamous "encroacher bush" - an invasive species that drains groundwater, causing fertile areas to become deserts - with mycelium, a fungus whose structure is an underground network of connecting fibres.

The aim is to create food and in this case, a sustainable building material that is reportedly stronger than concrete.

Mycelium has unique properties "that act like a glue to bind substrates [such as construction debris and plants] together,"  said Christopher Maurer, founder and principal architect at Red House.