An isolated dome in Hawaii will be their home for the next eight months

Six scientists have entered a dome perched atop a remote volcano in Hawaii where they will spend the next eight months in isolation to simulate life for astronauts travelling to Mars, the University of Hawaii has said.

The study is designed to help NASA understand human behaviour and performance during long space missions as the U.S. space agency explores plans for a manned mission to the red planet.

“I’m proud of the part we play in helping reduce the barriers to a human journey to Mars,” said the mission’s principal investigator Kim Binsted. The crew will perform geological fieldwork and basic daily tasks in the 1,200-sq.ft. dome, located in an abandoned quarry 8,200 feet above sea level on the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island.

There is little vegetation and the scientists will have no contact with the outside world, said the university, which operates the dome.

Communications with a mission control team will be time-delayed to match the 20-minute travel time of radio waves passing between the Earth and the Mars.

“Daily routines include food preparation from only shelf-stable ingredients, exercise, research and fieldwork aligned with NASA’s planetary exploration expectations,” the university said.

The NASA-funded mission, known as the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (Hi-SEAS), is the fifth of its kind intended to create guidelines for journeys to Mars, 56 million km from Earth.