Hmm.Any new or future technology which may be used or may improve space travel? (thoughts please!!).?

Answer 1

There have been several recent improvements to ion engines in the US, EU, and Australia. But its not going to get man to mars or anywhere else.
Manned space missions provide lots of taxpayer financed jobs and large corporate profits and very little else. There is simply nothing in our solar system worth the cost of sending humans to collect rocks. And that is all it is: collecting rocks. We already have a reasonably good idea of how the solar system formed. Collecting more rocks from new and more distant places is not likely to change that. Perhaps new data would suggest that the solar system formed 50 million years earlier than we believed. 4.65 rather than 4.6 billion years ago. Or maybe the opposite. Perhaps 4.45 billion years ago. And why would this matter?
If you absolutely need rocks from a distant and exotic spot, try Eastern Turkey. I can personally attest to the fact that the Turks have almost limitless numbers of rocks: big rocks, small rocks, all sorts of rocks. And Turkey can be visited much more cheaply than Mars. Just go to a major airport like Chicago and hop on a Turkish Air flight to Istanbul or several other good locations. Turkish Air is reasonably comfortable, the stewardesses are friendly and they serve good Turkish wine with the meals. Turkey offers good hotels, great food, friendly people, a good highway system, and lots and lots of rocks. And for the price of a toilet seat on the space station you can buy a couple of dozen good Turkish Hereke rugs.

Answer 2

Vincent -

There are such things as ion propulsion drives that would produce continuous acceleration at a low level for extended periods (like years). This would allow you to build up very large velocities over time, then halfway to your destination you would have to start decelerating. It would still take thousands of years to get to the nearest star other than the Sun.

Answer 3

Ironically, I am a licensed NASA technician and I am asked this all the time. We have recently built a house on Mars, but the government will not allow us to release that info officially. In fact, we have created time travel. By breaking down molecules and sending them backwards with a specific speed faster than light, we have sent a turkey sandwich back to 1327. We are currently waiting to see how it affects our future.

Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreamz

Answer 4

Microwave power from orbital solar power stations.
Ion drive.
Nuclear rocket.
Space elevator.
Photon drive.
Alcubierre warp drive.