So, I found this article on the internet that shows confirmation that we could use antimatter to propel spacecraft…what? First thing that came to my mind was Star Trek, can you imagine a world of space travel where you can visit other planets and cruise space at warp? Now I don’t exactly understand the science around this but it is still cool to think about and even better that it has been confirmed possible. Antimatter, anti-protons, these all sound like Star Trek terms to me.
The original article title reads “Confirmation of geomagnetically trapped antiprotons which can be trapped with superconductors enable antimatter enabled space applications” a mouth full to say the least but quite interesting. Now the article talks about how this can be used to weaponry but the same principal to launch a missile into space can be used to launch a spacecraft. They even talk about the concept of a Fusion engine:
• Antiproton catalyzed fission/fusion engine. Nanograms to micrograms of antiprotons do not have enough intrinsic energy to propel a spacecraft to high velocities when exclusively using the annihilation products. Instead, most concepts rely on using antiprotons to induce fission reactions. The antiprotons catalyze nuclear reactions in sub-critical fissile material to propel the vehicle by leveraging the nuclear material in a safe and controllable manner.
• Affordable lift. Reducing the cost to orbit with new affordable heavy lift options, though not strictly required, will improve overall feasibility.
This all seems very Star Trek to me, I’m pumped.