Dr Patrick Neumann of the University of Sydney has developed a new ion drive as part of his PhD thesis that is claimed to outperform the best one devised by NASA. According to Neumann, his new drive, which is still in the experimental stage, is more efficient than the latest High Power Electric Propulsion (HiPEP) ion engine and holds the promise of "Mars and back on a tank of fuel."

Ion engines, which generate thrust by ionizing a propellent gas using an electric or magnetic field is a classic tortoise and the hare technology. Where chemical rockets can generate millions of pounds of thrust, an ion drive can only manage the equivalent of the weight of a coin. However, chemical rockets can only burn for a matter of minutes, while ion engines can burn for many thousands of hours. This means that while ion-propelled spacecraft are as flightworthy as paperweights on Earth, once they're in space they can achieve speeds well beyond anything a chemical rocket could manage.