Russia has suggested a project to the international community to explore outer space using nuclear installations to send a manned expedition to Mars in 2017, a top Russian scientist said.

Speaking at a Moscow international conference on nuclear power in space, the vice president of the Kurchatov Institute scientific center, Nikolai Ponomarev-Stepnoy, said Russia offered the participants of the Mars flight “to use Russian research and development for nuclear engines and installations.”

He said that the international community has come to understand that the exploration of outer space is impossible without a nuclear rocket engine and propulsion units that can be used “both to accelerate spacecraft and to save energy”. The Soviet Union developed such reactors for military use from the 1960s, and produced some prototypes. Now it is time to go back to this work, “and Russia’s possibilities can be used widely,” the scientist said.

The main constructor of the Dollezhal Research and Development Institute, Vladimir Smetannikov, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying an engine and an installation to send a manned mission to Mars could be made by 2017. He added that in 2017, the Earth and Mars will be in the optimum positions for such a project.

“The exploration of nuclear technologies and their practical uses are not in the capacity of any — even the most technologically developed — world state, which is why it is necessary to combine our efforts,” Smetannikov said.