MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. Russia is developing a thermonuclear engine for spacecraft that will significantly reduce the time needed to reach other planets, Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center, has said.

He noted that the development of a thermonuclear (plasma) engine for spacecraft is an ambitious project by Russian scientists.

"This will allow us to reduce the travel time of ships to other planets by tens of times, usher in the era of regular cargo flights, and create the possibility of manned missions into deep space. A distinctive feature of this technology is the use of an open trap for plasma containment," Kovalchuk was quoted in a statement by the research center’s press service.

A prototype of the device was created at the Kurchatov Institute, after which its development continued at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, he said.

The 53rd International Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Russia’s largest event bringing together specialists in fusion technology, opened in Zvenigorod on Monday. The main organizers of the event are the Rosatom State Corporation, the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center, and the Russian Academy of Sciences.