Liklihood of Anti-matter propulsion

Problems with Space Travel

There are a couple of problems arising from making interstellar space voyages . Two main problems are time and fuel energy required . Scientists still do not consider that space travel beyond Solar System is a physical possibility even by using powerful propulsion systems like fission rockets . In addition there is Einstein 's theory of relativity and concept of relative time . The former says that to attain the speed of light , the highest speed limit in nature , the mass has to increase to infinity - thus making the energy needed for

this acceleration also to be infinite . While the concept of relative time states that if one travels faster , time travels slower , and theoretically when an object attains the speed of light the time stops completely . With the existence of these problems , the space travel to far away galaxies still seems a sci-fi concept (Ratliff , Kimball Heraty n .d

Propulsion Theories -Antimatter propulsion

While the relative-time issue still remains a problem , scientists have proposed many solutions to overcome the problem of speed by suggesting alternative propulsion ideas . While some of the scientists focus on bettering the present chemical propulsion systems by introducing new techniques , some others have proposed an alternative to replace chemical propellant by antimatter (Ratliff , Kimball Heraty n .d

Theoretically every particle has its corresponding antiparticle identical in nature but opposed in charge . When these oppositely charged particles combine they are converted into combination energy and other particle , the process is known as annihilation . Scientists are currently doing experiments to use this energy as a power source for spacecrafts There are several methods to do this . One of them follows the principles of fission reactor and a steam engine . This method would provide twice of the present impulse to spacecrafts . A more complicated method used magnetic coils to direct the by-products of annihilation to provide the thrust , which would give an impulse of 10 ,000 ,000 million seconds but the thrust would be lower (Ratliff , Kimball Heraty n .d

While the method is very efficient , the main limitation of using the antimatter in the propulsion system is its price - one mg of antimatter may cost nearly one hundred billion dollars to produce . This is the major difficulty in the implementation of antimatter propulsion technology (Ratliff , Kimball Heraty n .d

Research and Experiments

Many experiments have been going on for making the propulsion scheme using Antimatter , to be more specific antiprotons , feasible in near future

Antimatter is generated in a handful of laboratories around the world The laboratories in America include facilities such as Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois . These laboratories produce antimatter by accelerating subatomic particles like protons near the speed of lights and then hit them against other target particles . The most famous of these laboratories is at CERN in Geneva . In fact the first antimatter particle was produced by a scientist names Carl Anderson in the year 1932 (Forward Blase 1997

The Antimatter particles are difficult to...