Warp speed, hyperdrive, and hyperspace jumps—for decades, science fiction has painted us with the prospect of interstellar travel. But due to technological limitations, we are not yet close to this reality. There may be a way, though: A new study explores the potential of using antimatter as a fuel source that could hurl spacecraft into space faster than any existing technology.
For the uninitiated, antimatter is the bizarre "evil twin" of ordinary matter, with opposite electric charge and physical properties. In rare cases, the two collide, causing annihilation and the release of pure energy in an explosive event. Only tiny amounts of antimatter are needed to generate astronomical amounts of energy—millions of times more powerful than conventional fuels like rocket propellant.
Researchers from the United Arab Emirates University, who conducted the study, crunched the numbers and the results are mind-boggling. Just one gram of antimatter, specifically antihydrogen, could theoretically generate enough energy to propel 23 space shuttles.
"To put this scale into context, this energy, measured in kilograms, is approximately 10 billion times that of hydrogen-oxygen combustion in the space shuttle's main engine and 300 times that of the fusion reaction in the core of the sun," the researchers noted in the study published in the journal Science Direct.
In addition, the specific impulse of the antimatter engine can theoretically reach an astonishing 20 million meters per second, which researchers say can make "interstellar propulsion a goal rather than a dream."
With this kind of thrust, a manned antimatter rocket could not only explore the solar system; it could actually sail to nearby stars in a normal human lifetime. In fact, researchers are talking about traveling across the solar system in days or weeks.
All in all, these numbers are very encouraging. But as is always the case with theories, there's a big problem with it. Antimatter is not a common resource, and there are some significant technical and economic obstacles.
First, antimatter evaporates instantly when it comes into contact with normal matter. Isolating and storing it requires extremely complex (and expensive) containment systems using powerful electromagnetic fields. The current record is just 16 minutes before annihilation at CERN's particle collider.
Then there are the astronomical costs of creating antimatter. The same CERN facility can only produce about 10 nanograms per year, at a price in the millions per gram. Making enough antimatter rocket fuel would require huge budgets and sophisticated antimatter production that far exceeds today's capabilities.
However, while these obstacles are daunting, they do not have to be permanent obstacles. The paper notes that continued research and development can help address containment and manufacturing challenges. Hopefully this will happen in our lifetime.