The anti-protons are then collected and held in a magnetic bottle. Gerald Smith of Pennsylvania State University, can be obtained in modest quantities from high-energy accelerators slamming particles into solid targets. Where the Space Shuttle Main Engine has a specific impulse, a measure of efficiency, of 455 seconds, and nuclear fission could reach 10,000 seconds, fusion could provide 60,000 to 100,000 seconds, and matter/antimatter annihilation up to 100,000 to 1,000,000 seconds.īut first: Where do you get it? And how do you store the nuclear equivalent of the universal solvent?Īnti-protons, explained Dr. At its most basic level, an antimatter rocket is still a Newtonian rocket moving a space probe through action and reaction.Īnd what a reaction. He's not going to use it the way that the Starship Enterprise did, creating a warp field to move the vessel across space faster than the speed of light. What's important is intercepting some of the pions and other charged particles that are produced and using the energy to produce thrust."
"We want to get as close as possible to the initial annihilation event," Schmidt explained.
But the charged debris from a proton/anti-proton annihilation can push a ship. The gamma rays from a perfect reaction would escape immediately, unless the ship had thick shielding, and serve no purpose. They'll produce gamma rays at 511,000 electron volts.īut heavier particles like protons and anti-protons are somewhat messier, making gamma rays and leaving a spray of secondary particles that eventually decay into neutrinos and low-energy gamma rays.Īnd that is partly what Schmidt and others want in an antimatter engine. That's true for electrons and positrons (anti-electrons). The popular belief is that an antimatter particle coming in contact with its matter counterpart yields energy. Matter-antimatter annihilation - the complete conversion of matter into energy - releases the most energy per unit mass of any known reaction in physics. George Schmidt, chief of propulsion research and technology at NASA/Marshall.
"Antimatter has tremendous energy density," said Dr. November 30: Learning how to make a clean sweep in space
0 kommentar(er)
