Explore the antimatter spacecraft of the future

Years of fiction or future for years?

The dance moves through time and space seem to have become familiar to many readers of movies or science fiction novels. Although these ideas are also based on a number of scientific hypotheses, as well as traveling through time or instant teleportation, they are still dreams that seem far away in the future. However, scientists are trying their best to create a spacecraft close to Star Trek - that is the antimatter spacecraft.

No one can accelerate an object to the speed of light, however, this method of transport based on antimatter theory can help us move a lot faster. A physical engine - antimatter can take people away from the solar system and go to places where a conventional engine cannot.

Let's go to a few decades in the future and discover the truth about this dream ship.

What is antimatter?

This is not a difficult question. Antimatter, as its name suggests, is a concept opposed to matter - the main material that makes up our universe. Antimatter has only recently been discovered, and its existence is only at a theoretical level.

In 1928, British physicist Paul AM Dirac reviewed Einstein's famous expression E = mc2, he said, Einstein did not consider the case that m in this expression could also have a negative value. The new expression of Dirac, E = + or - mc2 allows for the existence of antimatter particles in our universe. Scientists have relied on it to prove the existence of antimatter.

Those particles, in fact, are projections of ordinary matter particles. Each antimatter particle has a mass equivalent to that of matter particles paralleling it, but charges opposite. Here are some antimatter particles discovered in the 20th century:

Positron: Electrons with positive charge instead of sound. Discovered by Carl Anderson in 1932, the positron was the first evidence for the existence of antimatter.

Anti-proton: Proton is negatively charged instead of positive. First created in 1955 by researchers at Berkeley Bevatron.

Anti-atom or anti-atom: By pairing positrons and anti-protons, scientists at CERN have for the first time produced antimatter particles. Exactly nine were created, and each particle existed for only 40 nanoseconds. By 1998, CERN had pushed this process to the point where it could produce 2000 seeds per hour.

When antimatter particles come into contact with matter particles, these opposing particles will collide with each other to create an explosion, thereby producing a pure radiation capable of moving away from the point of origin. transmitter of the explosion at the speed of light. All particles involved in this explosion are completely destroyed, leaving particles with an atomic structure. The masses of these particles are completely converted into energy for the explosion - and scientists believe that this source of energy is greater than the energy generated by any other form or method.

What prevents us from using this enormous energy source? The first and most important thing: the existence of antimatter particles in the universe is extremely rare. If the amount of matter and antimatter in the universe are balanced, it is likely that we have been crushed under the pressure emanating from their reaction.

It is very likely that the number of matter particles overwhelmed antimatter particles from the first moment of the formation of the universe: the Big Bang. As stated above, the impact between matter and antimatter will destroy both components. And because matter is what now dominates the universe - it is very likely that they are just remnants. Most likely, no more natural antimatter particles survived to this day.

We must therefore regenerate these antimatter particles ourselves. Scientists at CERN have invented a technology that produces antimatter, named atomic impact technology . They created a long enough tunnel with a circle, installed many traps from the school. When atomic particles are dropped here, they will be accelerated large enough to achieve speeds close to the speed of light, and when they hit a target, these particles will be broken down into individual small pieces, thereby creating subatomic particles. One of these particles will be separated by magnetic traps.

However, this method can only produce about 1 to 2 picons of proton reactions per year. A picogram is only worth a fraction of a billion grams. It is easier to imagine, the amount of antimatter that CERN produces each year will provide enough energy to light a 100W light bulb within . 3 seconds. And we need tons of new antiprotons hoping to create a ship capable of traveling through space and time.

Material-antimatter engine

Most likely, NASA will only take a few decades to develop an antimatter spacecraft capable of saving large amounts of liquid fuel compared to today. In October 2000, NASA scientists announced for the first time the design of an engine capable of producing an extremely impressive repulsion with only a small amount of antimatter particles providing energy for it. According to a report in the Journal of Propulsion an Power , we only need to counter antimatter about 1 part 1 million gram is enough for a 1 year trip to Mars.

The matter-antimatter engine will become the engine of maximum efficiency, because 100% of the mass of matter and antimatter are converted into energy. When they collide, the energy released by the explosion will be about 10 billion times greater than that of chemical engines like oxygen-hydrogen. The material-antimatter reaction is more than 1,000 times stronger than a nuclear reaction. These are very promising numbers, but the storage capacity, safety and scarcity of antimatter sources are still great barriers for us.

A material-antimatter engine needs the composition of three main structures:

Traps contain magnetic fields: Antimatter needs to be separated from matter, and the magnetic field will do this thanks to the opposite charge between matter and antimatter.

Target system : Spacecraft needs energy, energy is generated from collisions between antimatter and matter. This system will create a destination for those collisions.

Propulsion system: Turns all the energy created into a propulsion that helps the spacecraft move.

The desire to explore and discover is always the biggest motivation for human development. We've set out on Earth, but we've never wanted to stop. Antimatter, instant teleport, travel through time - is there a day all of this will become reality? Let's wait for answers from future brilliant minds.