Read here about some research into force fields.  Not the Star Trekkie divert a Klingon laser beam kind of force field, but one that might protect a space craft from solar wind.  These are the really tiny ionized particles likely to kill any individuals caught by them and they are one of the large hurdles into a manned mission to Mars.  It works by making a magnetosphere similar to the one surrounding and protecting the Earth from these particles.  It's looking more and more all the time like I might live to see someone make the first footprints on Mars, a small step for man...