Living in a Mars dome on Earth

Washington: Three women and three men have begun a path-breaking experiment to see how a team will react to living in close quarters, without physical access to the outside world,  for eight months.That is the time that it will take for a spacecraft to reach Mars. The National Space and Aeronautics Administration expects to put a human team on Mars by 2030.

As part of that mission, Nasa is running three experiments in the Hi-Seas series to see how humans can endure in the Martian atmosphere and how well they can stay and work together.The second of the experiments of the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation programme, is being conducted on the crater of an extinct volcano in Hawaii.

Locked in on Wednesday, the team will emerge only in June next year.

The team, selected after a six-day camping expedition in the Rockies, is headed by Martha Lenio, who was working on developing smart grid and solar energy solutions for mining companies.Hiseas-3 is the longest Mars simulation. Hi-seas 2, ended on July 25, 2014 after four months of simulated exploration of ‘Mars’.