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As we dream of sending humans to Mars, the psychological problems of such a mission loom large. Claudia Hammond ponders the most important qualities required from those who’d like to colonise Mars. Surviving a cramped nine-month journey and the pod-like homes on the red planet requires a mix of resilience, curiosity and the ability to get on with others.

She meets the volunteers who have been sampling similar long term simulations here on earth - and the psychologists who've overseen the design, selection and planning for future communities in space. Simulations have proved tricky – one involving an international group of volunteers in isolated conditions for 140 days ended up with the Russians in a fist-fight and a Japanese man being so distressed at this that he left after 60 days.

It’s hard to predict how people will react because humans have never travelled that far. But Nasa astronaut Mike Barratt believes that being amongst the first to travel to a new world would sustain them for quite a while.

The nature of a one-way mission raises practical and ethical issues – but there still isn’t a shortage of volunteers who want to spend the rest of their lives on the Red Planet.

(Photo: Simulating Mars. Credit: Hi-Seas Gallery, University of Hawaii)