NASA Is Funding , the Projects of the Future.br Last week, NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts br (NIAC) program announced grants for 14 teams br exploring high-risk, high-reward projects.br 'Wired' reports that some of the projects, like a lunar oxygen pipeline or new building material for br use on Mars, could be technological game changers.br These are things looking 20 to 30 years br down the road to see how we could br drastically improve or enable br new types of NASA missions, Mike LaPoint, NASA's Innovative br Advanced Concepts (NIAC), via 'Wired'.br The $175,000 grants will be used to br lay out detailed plans, run tests and design br new prototypes based off of Phase 1 projects.br The select few chosen to go on br to Phase 2 will receive $600,000 br for an additional two-year study.br A single exceptional project will then br receive an award of $2 million to enter into br another two-year long Phase 3 study.br According to 'Wired,' one of the most interesting br projects is a proposal to build a habitat out of br fungi and bacteria grown on the surface of Mars.br A University of Nebraska team is exploring br the idea of self-growing building blocks br using minerals formed within a bioreactor.br Another NIAC winner has proposed building a massive br pipeline on the surface of the moon to deliver br much-needed oxygen to astronauts on a future lunar base.