4 Aug 2018

The Habitat: six volunteers simulate a Mars mission in an isolation dome

From The Podcast Hour, 12:15 pm on 4 August 2018
The Habitat logo (Supplied)

Photo: Supplied

People have been dreaming and scheming about the day when we humans will be able to travel to Mars, and maybe even live there, for over a century.

And it's getting closer to becoming a reality too, with predictions a few brave people could be making a return trip sometime in the 2030s.

But what if the technological challenge of getting to Mars and back isn't the biggest obstacle we have to overcome?

Could human relationships, our ability to manage stress and conflict and solve problems together after being cooped up for months on end, be another major hurdle?

To test this out, NASA's been sending teams of volunteers to live for long periods in an isolation dome on a Hawaiian volcano: the project is called Hi-Seas and it's been running for about the past 5 years.

The Habitat, produced by Gimlet Media and presented by Lynn Levy, is the story of one of these groups who started a year-long stint in the dome back in August 2015.

The team of six had audio recorders to capture their experiences.

Richard Scott speaks to Lynn Levy about the challenges of telling this story from a distance outside the dome and plays a clip from Episode 2 in which the team enters their new home for the very first time.

Listen to The Habitat here.