NASA Isolates Recruits For 1 Year To Simulate Life On Mars

NASA has begun the year-long isolation of 6 recruits in a dome near a barren volcano in Hawaii to simulate life on Mars.

The dome, located on the northern slope of Mauna Loa, measures 36 feet in diameter and 20 feet in height. It will have no fresh air, fresh food, or privacy, and if the recruits have to explore outside the dome, they will have to wear a space suit.

The team is composed of 3 men and 3 women, including a French astrobiologist, a German physicist, and 4 Americans: a journalist, a pilot, a soil scientist, and an architect.

Recruits have been given their own sleeping cot and desk inside the dome, and will live off provisions including powdered cheese and canned tuna.

Though this is not the first isolation mission that NASA has conducted, it's the longest. In the past they've conducted 4-month and 8-month-long isolation experiments.