Thermal Antimatter Propulsion
Humanity has always felt the need to discover what lies beyond our gaze. This is evident with explorers like Leif Erikson, Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan, and James Cook, to name a few.
Our desire to explore the unknown has fueled our expanse into new horizons and allowed us to innovate and discover new technology. It has allowed us to gain perspective. It has allowed us to satisfy the burning curiosity fueling discovery. And thanks to early explorers, there is little more to discover on our planet, which prompts us to look up.
Just as Earth once was, space is an unknown frontier. Its mystery draws us in as our curiosity drive motivates us to learn and discover more and more. The potential above us is more grandiose than we could ever imagine. Unfortunately, that potential is just out of our grasp due to current forms of transportation.
Traditional rocket fuel is costly, in-effective, and slow. The fastest chemical rocket can only go 36,000 miles per hour making a round trip to Mars over a year.
If we ever want to go far beyond earth and explore, we need a change. We need speed.
How do we solve this? The answer is fairly simple: Antimatter.
Antimatter
Everything in our universe is composed of matter. And everything in the universe has an equal and opposite charge. Antimatter is essentially identical to matter except for a few minor differences. Can you guess them?
Well, if you guessed charge, you would be correct! Antimatter has the opposite charge and spin of matter. Take an electron for example. An anti-electron, or positron, would be virtually identical and have the same mass, except it is positively charged.
The collision between any particle and its respective counterpart leads to a mutual annihilation generating pure energy, light, and heat. This complete conversion of matter to energy is what makes antimatter so powerful! Approximately 1 gram of antimatter and matter annihilating generates the same amount of energy as an atom bomb!
Antimatter has been around since the begging of the universe. The Big Bang produced an equal amount of matter and antimatter. However, the universe contains more matter than antimatter. One reason for this could be that the strong nuclear force is slightly stronger for matter than it is antimatter. The weak nuclear force only shows a very slight preference towards particles over antiparticles, while gravity and electromagnetic forces show no differences at all between the two.
Since antimatter is so rare, it is highly desirable. The most common method for making antimatter is with a particle accelerator. Since antimatter is so rare, it is highly desirable. The most common way for making antimatter is with a particle accelerator. A particle accelerator is used to create a high-energy beam of particles. The particles must be accelerated to very high speeds, but they can only be accelerated so quickly, so one needs other acceleration methods to make up the difference.
There are two methods for accelerating particles within a particle accelerator: electromagnetic (such as superconducting magnets) and kinetic energy. Electromagnetic acceleration is prohibitively costly because of the powerful electromagnets and superconducting cables needed. At the same time, kinetic energy can only propel the particle if it is fed with enough energy in the form of either an electric current or laser pulses.
Unfortunately, this method is insanely expensive. Like 43 trillion dollars! Realistically, this method for generating antimatter is not practical.
Fortunately enough, scientists have found a different way to produce antiparticles. Using a pulse of an intense laser onto a millimeter-thick gold target with the diameter equivalent to a pushpin, we can generate approximately 100 billion particles of antimatter in just a nanosecond!
Thermal Antimatter Propulsion
Essentially a Thermal Antimatter propulsion system combines thermal nuclear propulsion, antimatter annihilation, and laser particle accelerators. With this technique, spacecraft can be made more efficient for space travel and serve as an alternative for the future.
Once the spacecraft capsule is transported into space with a traditional rocket, the second stage capsule will detach and begin its journey.
The laser, which is housed at the front of the capsule, will fire pulses of electromagnetic light radiation at a gold sheet. After coming in contact with the gold, the laser begins to generate heat which speeds up the gold molecules. From this, the sheet is irradiated, and the laser further continues to ionize and accelerate electrons, pushing them further and further from their nucleus until they finally break free from their shells. As they travel through the gold and interact with the nuclei, the electrons give off pure energy, decaying into matter and antimatter.
But storing antimatter is just as hard as producing it. Antimatter must be kept in a vacuum and in a “magnetic bottle,” which traps the antiparticles with powerful electromagnetic fields, preventing them from touching the walls of its container.
With electromagnets, we can direct this newly made antimatter into a positron reactor. They are then moved from their storage unit to the attenuating matrix. Inside they will attract and collide with matter, causing a mutual annihilation of both the matter and antimatter. Annihilation is the conversion of matter into pure energy, which releases intense amounts of light and heat.
The fuel, which in this case is liquid hydrogen (H2), circulates through the attenuating matrix and absorbs the heat from the positron annihilation. The hydrogen is then heated and rapidly expands, exiting out of the back of the capsule through the nozzle producing thrust.
Since the capsule is already in space, we can take the vacuum of space advantage by using positron transport systems exposed to space to bypass the need for an artificial vacuum chamber.
At full speed, a spacecraft with this technology can reach speeds nearing 180,000 miles per hour. With this speed, a trip to Mars could take as little as one month!
Since the spacecraft relies on antimatter annihilation to heat the hydrogen fuel, there is no need for an extra oxidizer. With chemical rockets, the need for an oxidizer heavily increases the size and cost of the rocket. By eliminating this need, we can exponentially lower the cost of the capsule to 50 million for a trip to Mars as opposed to 100 Billion with chemical fuel.
With over twice the fuel efficiency of current rocket engines and potentially just a 0.05% of the cost, thermal antimatter propulsion is the future of space travel.
With this technology, exploration will no longer be limited to Earth. Though we don’t know the potential of space now, with the help of Thermal Antimatter Propulsion, we can uncover it. Will will learn. We will grow. And will explore.
Key Takeaway’s
- Our current technology isn’t practical for extensive space travel.
- Antimatter almost identical to matter except for their charge and spin are reversed.
- Thermal Antimatter Propulsion combines Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, Antimatter Propulsion, and Laser Particle Accelerators.
- Laser light directed at gold can make 100 billion anti-electrons, or positrons, with just a single pulse.
- Thermal Antimatter Spacecrafts can go 180,000 miles per hour!
- A trip to Mars could be as little as 1 month!
Hey, my name is Norah Waegner, I am an 11th grade student in Los Angeles, California and innovator at The Knowledge Society. Thank you for reading my article! Feel free to connect with me through LinkedIn, email, or Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter too! Take care!
