HONOLULU — A group of NASA-funded researchers are poised to enter an isolated geodesic dome on a remote Hawaii volcano to study human behavior in long-term space exploration, including a planned voyage to Mars.

The six scientists enter their new home Thursday on the Big Island’s Mauna Loa volcano for an eight-month stay.

The team will have no physical contact with people in the outside world and will work with a 20-minute delay in communications, the time it would take for an email to reach Earth from Mars.

The study will assess the psychological difficulties associated with living in isolated and confined conditions for an extended time.