FOIA: Antimatter Propulsion

antimatter_propulsion.pdf
Antimatter Propulsion
Explanation of how antimatter propulsion works, along with its future applications, and organizations currently working in the field.
Document date: 2001-04-01
Department: Advanced Space Transportation Program (NASA)
Author: Advanced Space Transportation Program (NASA)
Document type: Technology Summary
pages: 1

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Archivist's Notes: pristine condition, multicolor, layman terms, a good summary of a complex concept

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Document really needs no break down.

Very quick and easy to read and understand. Archiver said it best.

Very clear and interesting PDF, begins off mentioning how antimatter could be used for propulsion and some basics behind antimatter itself, finishing with a few problems about the production of antimatter and how pure antimatter propulsion is not being considered too much due to the large quantities needed. It also mentions how antimatter is created and how it is be stored.

The mutual annihilation of antimatter and matter contains the highest energy density of any reaction known in physics. Technology developments underway in the Advance Space Transportation Program of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre could “left” an antimatter-powered starship into the realm of reality before the close of the 21st Century.

ANTIMATTER THEORY
Antimatter is the mirror image of normal matter and is composed of subatomic particles that mirror the mass of their ordinary counterparts-electrons, protons, and neutrons but with the opposite charge and spin. If the burst of energy produced when particles meet antiparticles could be harnessed, a near term concept for space propulsion might produce speeds capable of traversing the distance between the Earth and the Moon in about 7.5 minutes or between Mars and Earth in a day. Missions beyond the outer planets and even to the stars could be within reach.

The Energy released from proton-antiproton annihilation is 10 billion times greater than oxygen-hydrogen combustion and at least 100 times more energetic than fission or fusion. In other words, one gram of anti-hydrogen (the mirror image of a hydrogen atom) reacted with an equal amount of normal hydrogen provides the equivalent energy as of 23 space shuttle external tanks.

The energy from the antimatter-matter reaction could be used to heat or accelerate a working fluid to propel a spacecraft. Engineers at the Marshall Centre are studying the feasibility of hybrid antimatter propulsion concepts that could use antimatter annihilation as a “spark igniter” for a fission or fusion reaction. Propulsion concepts that derive all their energy from antimatter annihilation arent getting much considered due to the amount of antimatter required.

ANTIMATTER PRODUCTION
Antimatter is very rare in the universe so it has to be created in a laboratory. For almost half a century, antiparticles have been created in labs with only two being U.S. Labs (Brookhaven National Labs in New York & Fermi National Accelerator Labs in Illinnois). [note: if antimatter is the opposite mirror image of matter, then surely antimatter is as abundant as matter itself throughout the universe?]

The antimatter is produced by accelerating particles, such as protons near light-speed and ramming them into a target.[note: using particle accelerators such as CERN?)

The current world annual production of antimatter is only about 2 billionths of a gram.

Very very interesting! I'm curious as to what type of progress they've made since then, seeing as the Shuttle fleet only has a few years left, if I'm not mistaken?


The moon in minutes, Mars in a day, the outer reaches of the Solar System not that far off? I really hope this all happens in my lifetime.

it would be very interesting to se what progress they have made but im sure its all under close close raps so we assure ourselves being the lead in space exploration.

Those manufacturing and containment problems are certainly nothing to be glossed over, and really put a damper on any enthusiasm about using antimatter as a viable power source. At this point, we can't even contain generate and sustain a tiny little fusion reaction, much less a reaction multiple degrees of magnitude more powerful.

But you never know. A couple thousand years from now maybe we'll have figured out a way to coax antimatter easily out of virtual space using some transdimensional trick and everything will be hunky-dory. If we last that long, anyway.

Some ATS-cross-references on the antimatter subject and connected sub-subjects :

Thread : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Post : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Interesting links :
en.wikipedia.org... (Lots of links inside)
www.danbrown.com...
info.web.cern.ch...

Thread : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Post : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Interesting links :
nuclearweaponarchive.org...

Thread : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Post : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Interesting links : cuiwww.unige.ch...-10
( A lot of links included)

Thread : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Post : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Post : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Interesting links :
www.saunalahti.fi...
www....-------------------------/library/crime/terrorism/terror-tactics/suitcase-nukes/
www.worldnetdaily.com...
(Ready for 'mini-nukes'?)

Thread : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Post : www.abovetopsecret.com...
Interesting links :
www.rense.com...


More Interesting links :
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by LaBTop

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Great job of doing links to ATS threads. If I could applaud you, I would. As it is, a star is the best you can get from me.

Now my statement may cause a fuss but some of what is written there reminds me of what what the John Titor thread stated. He spoke of much the same thing...maybe some revisit is required.

Intereseting read... thanks for sharing...
I will follow the developments...

Well if anti-matter is just matter with an opposite charge and spin. It seems you could make it from normal matter and just reverse it. But its probably alot harder then that.

I'm a total laymen so don't go quoting me to anyone lol but the simplest way to explain it is:

Most people know antimatter is made in a particle accelerator. Basically a high-energy electron gets going very very fast and slams into a material with a large atomic number.

As the high-energy electron is deflected from its path, it radiates some of its energy away as photons. When these photons come near another nucleus*, they can turn into an electron-positron pair. A positron is an anti-electron.

*Another nucleus is needed to exchange energy with, because you can't create objects with mass from only photons because the photon has zero mass. (You can't break the law of conservation of energy)

reply to post by rapturas

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i'm taking the note in your post to be your question. anti-matter is rare in the universe, so far as we know. the way it was explained to me in a NatGeo physics show, is that there was more matter than antimatter in the early days of the big bang. if this were not so, and there were equal proportions of it, all matter(and antimatter) would have annihilated itself right off the bat. furthermore if anti-matter were prevalent every so often a person would just explode like a small nuke. since this doesn't happen we can be pretty darn sure that antimatter is a rarety in the universe these days.

This is true. Scientists speculate there was a slight majority of matter over antimatter in the beginning.

Currently there seems to be evidence supporting that antimatter decays slightly faster than matter. So that could be another reason.

[edit on 20-8-2008 by Scramjet76]