1999/06/20 by G. Schmidt, Harold P. Gerrish, Juan Carlos De Martin +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Antimatter #Antiproton #Astro and Planetary Science #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Nuclear physics #Physics #Positron #Propulsion
paper · doi:10.2514/6.1999-2691
openalex publication_date 1999/06/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The superior energy density of antimatter annihilation has often been pointed to as the ultimate source of energy for propulsion. Unfortunately, the limited capacity and very low efficiency of present-day antiproton production methods suggest that antimatter may be too costly to consider for near-term propulsion applications. We address this issue by assessing the antimatter requirements for six different types of propulsion systems, including two concepts in which antiprotons are used as a “catalyst ” for fusion-based thrust production. These requirements are compared against the capacity of current antimatter production facilities and then assessed assuming the improved capabilities which could exist within the early part of next century. Results show that although it may be impractical to consider systems which rely on antimatter as the sole source of propulsive energy, the requirements of the antimatter-initiated, fusion-based concepts do fall within projected near-term production capabilities. In fact, such systems could feasibly support interstellar precursor missions and omniplanetary spaceflight with antimatter costs ranging up to 60 million per mission.