From the first anniversary edition of the Carnival of Space, I’ll send you this week to Brian Wang’s discussion of two propulsion concepts for the near future. VASIMR (variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket) is under active development at Franklin Chang Diaz’ Ad Astra Rocket Company, a site to monitor for developments in a technology that offers potential specific impulses from 1,000 to 30,000 seconds.

That’s a major upgrade compared to conventional rocket designs, and one that could conceivably get us to Mars in as little as 39 days. The Finnish solar electric sail concept, which we’ve also looked at here, may be well enough along for a flight test in 2010, assuming the budgetary gods are smiling. Our next step outward depends upon bumping up trip times to relatively nearby destinations like Mars and the asteroids, and these are two of the more promising concepts for making that a reality.