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National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Marshall Space Flight CenterHuntsville, Alabama 35812

NASA

Technol

ogySum

mary

Propulsion Research Center

Antimatter Propulsion

Traveling to the stars will require ultra high-energy

propulsion systems. The mutual annihilation oantimatter and matter packs the highest energy

density o any reaction known in physicsperhaps

just the energy source needed to trek to the stars.

Antimatter propulsion is a staple o science ction,

and technology development activities now under

way in the Propulsion Research Center at NASAs

Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.,

could lot an antimatter-powered starship into the

realm o reality beore the close o the 21st century.

Antimatter is the mirror image o normal matter

we see all around us. Its composed o subatomic

particles that mirror the mass o their ordinary

matter counterpartselectrons, protons and neu-

tronsbut with an opposite charge and magnetic

properties. I the burst o energy produced when

particle meets antiparticle could

be eciently harnessed, a space

propulsion vehicle could produce

a specic impulsethe peror-

mance o a propellant or total

impulse transerred to a spacecrat

per massthousands o times

greater than theenergy produced

by aSpace Shuttle Main Engine.

Science missions beyond the outer

planetsamong the stars them-

selvescould be within reach.

The specic energy density

released rom proton-antiproton

annihilation is 10-billion-times

greater than oxygen-hydrogen

combustion and at least 1,000-times more energet-

ic than ssion or usion. In other words, one gramo antihydrogenthe mirror image o a hydrogen

atomcombined with an equal amount o normal

hydrogen provides the same amount o energy as

23 Space Shuttle External Tanks.

The challenge acing researchers, however, is

because o the rarity o antimatter in the universe,

it has to be created in a laboratory environment.

For almost hal-a-century, antiparticles have been

created in laboratories with a large(our-mile

circumerential ring)particle accelerator. Only

two U.S. laboratories generate signicant antipro-

tonsBrookhaven National Laboratory in Upton,

N.Y., and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in

Batavia, Ill. The laboratories produce antimatter by

accelerating particles, such as protons, near the

speed o light and ramming them into heavy-nuclei

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targets. The current worldwide, annual production o antimatter

is only two-billionths o a gram. However, microgram quantities

are easible within 15 years with several successul upgrades to

current acilities.

The energy rom the matter-antimatter reaction could be used to

heat or accelerate a working fuid to propel a spacecrat. Research-

ers at the Marshall Center are studying the easibility o hybrid an-

timatter propulsion concepts that could use microgram quantities

o antimatter as a spark igniter or a ssion orusion reaction.

Dramatic improvements in the production, storage and use o

antimatter will be required to make it a viable propulsion alterna-

tive. Researchers at the Marshall Centers Propulsion Research

Center are ocusing eorts on storage o antimatter. Marshalls

High-Perormance Antiproton Trap, called HiPAT, is the largest

portable trap o its kind in the world, built to hold up to 1012

antiprotons or several weeks. The experimental trap consists

o an ultra-high-vacuum electromagnetic container that traps

antiprotons and prevents them rom destroying themselves by

hitting the container walls or other gas particles. The trap can be

transported to a laboratory that produces antiprotons and lled

with particles. It then can be taken to labs or universities or

experiments that could help develop technologies or anti-matter

The Marshall Center is developing revolutionary space transpor-

tation and propulsion system technologies that promise a new

age o space explorationkey to NASAs exploration mission

goals in the Vision or Space Exploration. The Vision calls or

Space Shuttles to return to sae fight to complete the Interna-

tional Space Station, and more ambitious human and robotic

exploration o the Solar System. These innovative technologies

will dramatically shorten trip times, increase saety and reliability

and reduce the cost o space transportation.

NASA uels discoveries that make the world smarter, healthier

and saer.

For more inormation on NASA programs and projects, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov.

June 2005 FS-2005-06-88-MSFC Pub 8-40446

Explore. Discover. Understand.