People trap themselves on this volcano for 8 months at a time — and it's critical to exploring space

Mauna Loa volcano, HAWAII — What will it be like to live and work on the red planet?

To find out, I visited a Mars colony — OK, so it was a small camp near the top of a giant Hawaiian volcano. But it's one of the closest analogs we have to Mars.

The 1,300-square-foot dome belongs to HI-SEAS, an organization that simulates Mars missions. Each expedition locks six brave volunteers inside for several months. You can step outside — but only if you're wearing a full spacesuit. Meanwhile, researchers back on "Earth" monitor the group's stress levels, camaraderie, and teamwork.

This is no stunt. Isolated conditions will be unavoidable on a real-life mission to Mars, and help from Earth will be about 140 million miles away. So it's crucial that we stage mock missions, discover the challenges real astronauts may face, and learn how to overcome them.

Martha Lenio, the commander of the crew that just finished an eight-month stay inside the dome, recently hosted a group of local high-school girls for a "night on Mars," part of a STEM education program called PISCES, and invited me to tag along.

Scroll down to see Mars on Earth — and why conquering the real thing will be tougher than we expected.

Many of humanity's space-exploration dreams lead here, to Mars.

But it's a desolate, unforgiving place.

To learn to live on Mars, we need a good analog to practice on. And Mauna Loa — a giant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii — is the best one we have.

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