HILO >> Six scientists are close to wrapping up a year of near isolation in a Mars simulation on a Hawaii mountain.

The scientists are housed in a dome on Mauna Loa and can go outside only in spacesuits, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

They manage limited resources while conducting research and working to avoid personal conflicts.

Kim Binsted, principal investigator for the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, said this simulation is the second longest of its kind after a mission that lasted 520 days in Russia.

“They’re doing OK as far as we can tell,” Binsted said of the scientists.

Previous simulations in the Mauna Loa dome have lasted four to eight months.

NASA funded the study, run through the University of Hawaii.

The scientists will have access to fresh produce and other food not available to them in the dome when the simulation ends Sunday.

“They are clamoring to get into the ocean,” Binsted said. “I think they will enjoy having a beer as well.”

1,500 pounds of trash cleared at Kauai beach

Volunteers have cleaned up more than 1,500 pounds of trash from Papaa Bay Beach on Kauai over the past few weeks.

On Thursday alone, 14 volunteers with Net Patrol picked up 817 pounds of nets, pallets, tires and plastic from the Eastside beach, the Garden Island reports.

Three weeks ago Net Patrol took a group to the same beach and found a boat that broke up into three pieces, said Barbara Wiedner, vice president of Kauai’s Surfrider Chapter. That day they gathered 719 pounds of trash from the beach.