Personally I don't think they will ever be able to deal with the emotional impact of living on Mars until they are there and the thought that they may never be able to go home truly enters their minds.  Look at all the stuff on the internet about Snowden who can't go home to America....  yet he is still on the planet and living and working comfortably with his girlfriend.  I don't think any simulations will cut it.....  Mars is a desolate place, with no oxygen and freezing cold conditions.  They would have to go with the thought they will never get to go home... that they are going to die there.

This team is simulating a mission to Mars to understand the high emotional cost of living there

http://qz.com/635323/this-team-is-faking-a-mission-to-mars-to-understand-the-high-emotional-cost-of-living-there/



"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~