Interstellar travel is only something humanity has achieved in science fiction like Star Trek's USS Enterprise, which used antimatter engines to travel across star systems.
But antimatter isn't just a sci-fi trope. Antimatter really exists.
Elon Musk has called antimatter power "the ticket for interstellar journeys," and physicists like Ryan Weed are exploring how to harness it.
Antimatter is made up of particles almost exactly like regular matter but with opposite electric charge. That means when antimatter contacts regular matter, they both annihilate and can produce enormous amounts of energy.
"Annihilation of antimatter and matter converts mass directly into energy," Weed, cofounder and CEO of Positron Dynamics, a company working to develop an antimatter propulsion system, told Business Insider.
Just one gram of antimatter could generate an explosion equivalent to a nuclear bomb. It's that kind of energy, some say, that could boldly take us where no one has gone before at record speed.
The benefit of all that energy is that it can be used to either accelerate or decelerate spacecraft at break-neck speeds.
For example, let's take a trip to our nearest star system, Proxima, about 4.2 light years away.
An antimatter engine could theoretically accelerate a spacecraft at 1g (9.8 meters per second squared) getting us to Proxima in just five years, Weed said in 2016. That's 8,000 times faster than it would take Voyager 1 one of the fastest spacecraft in history to travel about half the distance, according to NASA.
Even within our own solar system, an antimatter-powered spacecraft could reach Pluto in 3.5 weeks compared to the 9.5 years it took NASA's New Horizons probe to arrive, Weed said.
The reason we don't have antimatter engines, despite their tremendous capabilities, comes down to cost, not tech.
Gerald Jackson, an accelerator physicist who worked on antimatter projects at Fermilab, told Forbes in 2016 that with enough funding, we could have an antimatter spacecraft prototype within a decade.
The basic technology is there. Physicists armed with the world's most powerful particle accelerators have made antiprotons and antihydrogen atoms.
The issue is that this type of antimatter is incredibly expensive to make. It's considered the most expensive substance on Earth. Jackson gave us an idea of just how much an antimatter machine would cost to build and maintain.
Jackson is the founder, president, and CEO of Hbar Technologies, which is working on a concept for an antimatter space sail to decelerate spacecraft traveling 1% to 10% the speed of light a useful design for entering into orbit around a distant star, planet, or moon that you want to study.
Jackson said he's designed an asymmetric proton collider that could produce 20 grams of antimatter per year.
"For a 10-kilogram scientific package traveling at 2% of the speed of light, 35 grams of antimatter is needed to decelerate the spacecraft down and inject it into orbit around Proxima Centauri," Jackson told BI.
He said it would take $8 billion to build a solar power plant for the enormous energy needs of antimatter production and cost $670 million per year to operate.
The idea is just that, for now. "There is currently no serious funding for advanced space propulsion concepts," Jackson said.
However, there are other ways to produce antimatter. That's where Weed focused his work.
Weed's concept involves positrons, the antimatter version of an electron.
Positrons "are several thousand times lighter than antiprotons and don't pack quite as much punch when annihilating," Weed said.
The advantage, however, is that they occur naturally and don't need a giant accelerator and billions of dollars to make.
Weed's antimatter propulsion system is designed to use krypton-79 a form of the element krypton that naturally emits positrons.
The engine system would first gather high-energy positrons from krypton-79 and then direct them toward a layer of regular matter, producing annihilation energy. That energy would then trigger a powerful fusion reaction to generate thrust for the spacecraft.
While positrons may be less expensive to obtain than more powerful forms of antimatter, they are difficult to harness because they are highly energetic and need to be slowed down, or "moderated." So building a prototype to test in space is still beyond reach, cost-wise, Weed said.
Such is the case for all antimatter propulsion designs. Over the decades, scientists have proposed dozens of concepts, none of which have come to fruition.
For example, in 1953, Austrian physicist Eugen Snger proposed a "photon rocket" that would run on positron annihilation energy. And since the '80s, there's been talk of thermal antimatter engines, which would use antimatter to heat liquid, gas, or plasma to provide thrust.
"It's not sci-fi, but we aren't going to see it flying until there is a significant 'mission-pull,'" Weed said about his engine concept.
To build Weed's concept at the scale of a starship, "the devil's in the engineering details," Paul M. Sutter, an astrophysicist and host of "Ask a Spaceman" podcast, told BI.
"We're talking about a device that harnesses truly enormous amounts of energy, requiring exquisite balance and control," Sutter said.
That enormous energy is another obstacle holding us back from revolutionizing space travel. Because during testing, "if something goes wrong, these are big explosions," Steve Howe, a physicist who worked on antimatter concepts with NASA in the '90s, told BI.
"So we need an ability to test high energy density systems somewhere that don't threaten the biosphere, but still allow us to develop them," said Howe, who thinks the moon would make a good testing base. "And if something goes wrong, you melted a piece of the moon," and not Earth, he added.
Antimatter tends to bring out the imagination in everyone who works on them. "But, we need crazy but plausible ideas to make it further into space, so it's worth looking into," Sutter said.
Weed echoes the sentiment, saying "until there is a compelling reason to get to the Kuiper Belt, the Solar Gravitational Lens, or Alpha Centauri really quickly or perhaps we are trying to return large asteroids for mining progress will continue to be slow in this area."
Visit link:
- Startups have taken big strides this year to bring back space travel - Fortune - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Isolation and annoying co-workers: Solving the stress of a trip to Mars - Astronomy Magazine - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- SPACE PERSPECTIVE UNVEILS THE FUTURE OF HUMAN SPACE TRAVEL - PR Newswire - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Space Perspective Unveils The Future Of Human Space Travel - Space Daily - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Brokaw: 'Constellation' is an unsettling story of space travel - Daily Herald - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- The New Companies Developing Tech on the Space Coast - SpaceCoastDaily.com - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- A space tourism milestone has been reached. Now, testing begins. - Travel Weekly - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Space Perspective Unveils Test Capsule, Marks Milestone in Titusville's Spaceflight Journey | TalkOfTitusville.com - Talk of Titusville - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Former West High student now heads tech startup making pharmaceuticals in space - Salt Lake Tribune - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Space travel: How does it feel to live and work on Mars? - Mint Lounge - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- NASA's Vision for the Future: A New Space Station by 2030 - Medriva - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Kam Ghaffarian's Moonshots - The New York Times - February 18th, 2024 [February 18th, 2024]
- Tiny robot's successful first surgery could have huge implications for space travel - ReadWrite - February 18th, 2024 [February 18th, 2024]
- Space Health Challenges and Innovations in Deep Space Travel - Medriva - February 18th, 2024 [February 18th, 2024]
- NASA is Done Setting Fires Inside its Doomed Cargo Spacecraft - Universe Today - February 18th, 2024 [February 18th, 2024]
- 'The Space Race' Review: Why Was NASA So White? - The New York Times - February 18th, 2024 [February 18th, 2024]
- The New Corporate Frontier: Implications of the Space Race on Ground-Based Telescopes and Astronomical Research - Medriva - February 18th, 2024 [February 18th, 2024]
- This Remotely Controlled Robot Will Conduct a Simulated Surgery on the International Space Station - Smithsonian Magazine - February 18th, 2024 [February 18th, 2024]
- Canadian Astronaut Jeremy Hansen: Reflecting on Canada's Role in Space Exploration and Preparing for Artemis II ... - Medriva - February 18th, 2024 [February 18th, 2024]
- Axiom Space's Ax-3 Mission: A Revolutionary Step in Commercial Space Travel - Medriva - January 23rd, 2024 [January 23rd, 2024]
- MBRSC to begin second Mars simulation mission on January 26 - SatelliteProME.com - January 23rd, 2024 [January 23rd, 2024]
- Starfield players outraged over missing space exploration feature - Dexerto - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- This Alternate Method of Space Travel in Starfield is Way More Immersive Than Menus - GameRant - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Starfield: How to space travel and scan planets - App Trigger - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Why Do Almost Half of Moon Missions Fail? Here's Why Space Is ... - Inverse - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Researchers Discover Yet Another Way That Space Travel Kills You - The Debrief - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Moon landing rekindles interest in space exploration - New Zealand Herald - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- What's it like to win a trip to space? - BBC - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- UNLV Earns NASA Awards to Bolster Space-Related Research ... - UNLV NewsCenter - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- 7 Best Ships To Unlock In Starfield - Screen Rant - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Starfield players agree that its first dozen hours are its weakest: 'OK ... - PC Gamer - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Buddhists Do Not Want Space Junk to Fall on Your Head - E-International Relations - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Will humans ever go to Mars? | Astronomy.com - Astronomy Magazine - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Unleashing Power of Tether Space Transport - Jammu Kashmir ... - Daily Excelsior - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Frustrated Starfield players say controversial low review scores are ... - Dexerto - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Saudi space mission to launch on May 21, first Arab woman astronaut to embark on historic journey to ISS - wknd. - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Saudi astronauts to launch space mission on May 21 - Saudi Gazette - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- First Saudi space mission to launch on May 21 with Kingdoms first astronauts - Al Arabiya English - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Flying in space would slash Sydney to London journey time to just two hours - 9News - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Flights from Sydney to London take two hours with outer space ... - Innovation News Network - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Final Frontier for the Faithful: Islamic Rulings on Space - E-International Relations - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Twitter is still vital for the space community. A former NASA astronaut ... - Space.com - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- CNL Aims to Better Protect Canadian Astronauts Through New Project Funded by the Canadian Space Agency - Yahoo Finance - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- SpaceX Announces Seat Reservations For Space Station Travel - Traveling Lifestyle - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Axiom-2 Mission Set to Launch with Diverse Crew of Private ... - Transcontinental Times - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- New Mexico has surreal sand dunes, snowy mountains, space alien ... - Knoxville News Sentinel - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- To Space and Back: Students Conduct Plant Science Research on ... - ISS National Lab - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- NASA Tests Robot Snakes to Send to Other Planets - Newsweek - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- HAL 9000 Is the Most Terrifying Movie A.I. - Collider - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Space Travel Market 2023 to 2029 Industry Analysis, Growth ... - Cottonwood Holladay Journal - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Virgin Galactic: Revolutionizing Space Travel and the Future of ... - Best Stocks - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Virgin Galactics first private space tourism flight to take off in June - Travel Tomorrow - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- NASA PC-12 to conduct aerial flights over Cleveland roadways - AviationSource News - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Florida's 'Space Coast' Has Incredible Beaches, Food, and Dolphins Here's How to Plan a Trip - Yahoo Life - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Fast X adds Jason Momoa to the Vin Diesel-driven franchise for the first instalment of a series finale that already feels like its spinning its wheels... - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Airstreams new travel trailer fits a swanky studio apartment into less than 17 feet of living space - The Manual - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Steven Wright, Master of the One-Liner, Tries His Hand at a Novel - The New York Times - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Poop falling from the sky: Here's how often that happens - CBS News - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- How will we react when the aliens arrive? - The Irish Times - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Luxury stores with the most beautiful interiors - Luxebook - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Is it really possible to travel back in time? - BBC Sky at Night Magazine - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The pros and cons of space colonization - Yahoo News - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- In space, failure is an option often the only one - Nature.com - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- Virgin Galactic Announces Return to Space, Crew | - Santa Fe Reporter - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- A tour inside the Thailand's first space themed hotel - Manila Bulletin - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- Buzz Aldrin named Brigadier General by Space Force - We Are The Mighty - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- Virgin Orbit Failure Casts Cloud Over Space Voyages - Kiplinger's Personal Finance - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- OPINION: A Return to Profitability for Commercial Aviation - Avionics ... - Aviation Today - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- 12 Realistic Films About Space Travel and Making Contact With Aliens - Wealth Of Geeks - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- Dont be fooled: 10 of the biggest travel myths, busted - Sydney Morning Herald - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- 20 of the Worst Disasters in Space Flight History - 24/7 Wall St. - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- This Day in History: Astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space - WESH 2 Orlando - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- 10 Wildest Science Fiction Movies That Could Actually Happen - Screen Rant - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- Harry Styles new road trip music video Satellite is full of US travel ... - New Zealand Herald - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- What is the future of space travel? | Royal Museums Greenwich - Cutty Sark - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- Timeline: 50 Years of Spaceflight | Space - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- Scientists Propose New, Faster Method of Interstellar Space Travel - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- Home | Virgin Galactic - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- Space Program | JFK Library - December 14th, 2022 [December 14th, 2022]
- Celestron Travel Scope 70DX is an ideal beginner's telescope for just ... - November 27th, 2022 [November 27th, 2022]