Six scientists are locking themselves inside a 100 square-foot dome in Mauna Loa, Hawaii for the next year.
The team will be under constant surveillance via cameras and body movement trackers, and they can only leave the solar-powered dome in a space suit.
This Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or HI-SEAS, mission is part of ongoing research into whether something like a manned mission to Mars is possible.
"The main thing that's new about this mission is its sheer length. So as you might imagine, as the group gets to know each other, that whole dynamic changes over time," said Kim Binsted, the team's principle investigator.
Researchers will monitor the group's physical and emotional behavior for any signs of space madness.