Borisov admits manned flights to Mars in the next 50 years

Manned flights to Mars may begin in the next 50 years. This was announced by the Director General of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov in an interview on Solovyov Live TV channel.

"I think that maybe even faster, in the next 50 years," he said.

In his opinion, potential problems of long-duration flights are psychological compatibility of humans with outer space and preservation of basic functions of the human body in microgravity conditions.

The Roscosmos CEO also said that the Zeus nuclear tugboat will be used for deep space exploration. The creation of its prototype is planned for 2030.

"We are doing this project so far with our own forces, it is going quite successfully. The appropriate reactor capacities have been achieved. And I think that in this direction we will not stop work and somewhere in the 30s-40s this product will be practically used for deep space exploration, for scientific programs," Borisov informed.

Earlier, on November 15, Borisov said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that space currently plays a major role in the Russian economy. According to Borisov, the current growth rate of the global space industry is much higher than the growth rate of the global GDP. He noted that by 2030 the world space constellation may include from 60 to 100 thousand satellites of various importance.