A team of 6 researchers entered a 1,200 square meter geodesic dome near Hawaii's Mauna Loa to live in isolation for eight months and learn more about how confined and isolated environments affect people who do long-distance space travel.

According to Sci-Tech Today, the study, funded by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), attempts to simulate living on Mars or other worlds. Crew members will have no contact with the outside world whatsoever during their stay. Incoming and outgoing communications will experience a 20-minute delay which is the time a message from Mars is received here on Earth.

The University of Hawaii operates this facility called Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or HI-SEAS. To imitate life living on the Red Planet, the researchers will also do daily tasks like conducting geological and mapping studies and mundane chores like cooking and cleaning. They will also be required to wear spacesuits when they leave the geodesic dome.

Food supplies are mostly freeze-dried or canned food. And when supplies run out, a drop-off will be arranged near the facility and a robot will pick up the supplies to maintain the crew's isolation.

Mission Commander James Bevington, a space researcher, expressed some initial fears that the little team inside the dome might end up like the Biosphere 2 experiment. The Biosphere 2 was an experimental greenhouse environment, complete with indoor garden and oxygen producing plants built in the 1990s to study how humans will live in a non-terrain environment, reported ABC News.

The Biosphere 2 was plagued with problems in its two-year existence. The crew of 8 people (4 women and 4 men) squabbled, grew far apart, and allowed carbon dioxide levels in the facility to reach almost dangerous levels.

The HIGH-SEAS team will live in small quarters inside the dome and will have instruments around their neck to monitor their moods and reactions to other team members.

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