Believe it or not here it is.

Russian scientists yesterday announced an ambitious project to send a manned mission to Mars by 2009.

If realised, it could trump Nasa's bid to put men on the Red Planet - announced by President George W Bush this year - by more than a decade.

Managers from Aviacosmicheskie Sistemy, an aerospace company based in Moscow, said their objective could be achieved using existing technology for no more than £2.7 billion, about a fifth of Nasa's projected costs.

The company plans to set up a space station beyond the Moon as a staging post for a three-year manned flight to Mars.

Six astronauts will make the trip in a low-budget craft based on a Russian Zvezda module carrying a 70-ton landing unit and a rover.

"This will be a pioneering flight," said Georgiy Uspensky, a member of the team.

"It is a very attractive and realistic idea."

Viktor Ivanov, a colleague, said the project could "solve the problem of national prestige".

An official from the Russian space agency, Rosaviakosmos, said the project had little chance of success on such a low budget, but the scientists said they were confident of securing private funding.