US, French and German volunteers have been living on freeze-dried food and trying to avoid personal conflicts on the red planet-like slopes of Mauna Loa

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Six scientists are close to wrapping up a year of near isolation in a Mars simulation on a Hawaii mountain.

The scientists are housed in a dome on Mauna Loa and can go outside only in spacesuits, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

They manage limited resources while conducting research and working to avoid personal conflicts. Communication is delayed by 20 minutes, the length it would take to relay messages from Mars.

Kim Binsted, principal investigator for the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (Hi-Seas), said this simulation was the second-longest of its kind after a mission that lasted 520 days in Russia.

“They’re doing OK, as far as we can tell,” Binsted said of the scientists.

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Previous simulations in the Mauna Loa dome have lasted four to eight months. Mauna Loa soil is similar to what would be found on Mars. The area’s high elevation means almost no plant growth. Nasa funded the study run through the University of Hawaii.

The scientists will have access to fresh produce and other foods not available to them in the dome when the simulation ends on 28 August.

“They are clamoring to get into the ocean,” Binsted said. “I think they will enjoy having a beer as well.”

The current simulation has been the fourth and longest, with volunteers from France, Germany and the United States, including a soil scientist, an astronomer, a physicist and an astrobiologist, who have survived on freeze-dried foods for months. An eight-month simulation starts in January.