According to RIA Novosti, Russia and USA will discuss the future of ISS and development of new engine for exploration of deep space. Vice-Premier Sergey Ivanov has told about it.

According to him, the director of NASA Charles Bolden will visit Moscow in the network of 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight celebration. The meeting of working party on cooperation between USA and RF in the area of space will take place immediately after April 12th.

"The main question that will be discussed at the meeting is: what shall we do after 2020. Or maybe after 2023 assuming we prolong the service life of ISS by three or maximum five years. We must take some actions now, because any space project especially connected with long-distance flights, for example mission to Mars, have a technological problem - the ship's engine ", - said Ivanov in Washington.

According to him, the problem of engine's development may be solved only in cooperation between several countries, since no country is able to create it by itself at the moment.

"According to the scientists, specialists and experts, only an engine with nuclear power unit can provide the long-distance transportation of cargo and astronauts. The other variants are just impossible. The second aspect is high cost of any project in this area. The amount is much greater than military budgets of many countries ", - noted Ivanov.

Ivanov said that Russia is working on next-generation space engine. "Roscosmos has such projects. To be more exact, the specific enterprises, forming part of Roscosmos, have such projects, especially RSC Energia. They are working on power plant and we are one of the world's leading countries in development of nuclear power plants able to work for several months. Engine is the key element. It is easier to develop a ship than to develop an engine ", - the Vice-Premier concluded.