What would it be like to live on Mars? An international team of six scientists—including four Americans—now have a better idea, after spending a year isolated inside a dome in Hawaii that simulated conditions on the Red Planet. The researchers had limited contact with the outside world, wore spacesuits whenever they left the 36-foot-wide dome, and faced obstacles like managing limited resources and finding water in the arid landscape. The purpose of the experiment, set up by NASA and the University of Hawaii, was to figure out what kinds of personalities and skill sets would be ideal for a real journey to Mars—which could last six months to a year—and for colonizing it. Hopes of sending humans to Mars were stoked in 2013, when water was discovered there. Though it’s unclear whether humans could survive on the planet, French crew member Cyprien Verseux is optimistic. “I think the technological and psychological obstacles can be overcome.”