Posted by tourdemars to Technology at March 2, 2005 08:44 PM

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.”