There is a brilliant "new" engine in the works that will make travel to Mars possible in days instead of months.
It's called VASMIR http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_Specific_Impulse_Magne...
It's not really "new" since it was conceptualized in 1977 but recent technological advances have made it a real prototype (2005) and it will be tested on the space-station in 2013.
The guy who designed it, Franklin Chang-Diaz, is incredible as well as his lifestory - literally made his farfetched startrek-inspired dream to become an astronaut come true by sheer willpower and he went to MIT.