A trip to Mars may be in the books for future astronauts, but current propulsion technology will have them floating in a spacecraft bound for the Red Planet for roughly six to nine months. Considering how spaceflight affects the human body, that's not ideal. A rocket company in Russia may have developed a solution to travel through the cosmos at much faster speeds using a new type of rocket engine.

Scientists at Russia's state-owned Rosatom corporation have developed a prototype of a plasma electric rocket engine that could reach Mars in just 30 to 60 days, Russian media reported. The rocket, which uses hydrogen as fuel, has the potential to revolutionize spaceflight, but it is very early in its development phase and will likely take several years before it can be used for a human mission to Mars. Still, this new kind of technology may be what's needed to leave dusty footprints on the Martian surface.