Never would we have an energy crisis with...anti-matter!

By James Schultz
Special to SPACE.composted: 07:00 am ET
11 January 2001
With antimatter in the tank, taking the family rocket out for a spin to the nearest M-class planet would be a relative breeze. Miniaturized antimatter fuel might consist of a thumb-sized canister with an energy source no bigger than an aspirin and no need of replenishment for hundreds of light-years -- or, locally, tens of millions of intra-solar-system miles.

[inset]Ever since the 1930s, scientists have known of the existence of a twin to ordinary matter. Antimatter has the same mass but opposite spin and charge. Put matter and antimatter together and its like Einstein said, E=mc² -- 100-percent energy conversion. Luckily for normal-matter humanity, there doesnt seem to be too much antimatter left over from the Big Bang to cause random ultra-explosions.
 
Cosmic paucity, however, hasnt stopped human manufacture. More antimatter is now being produced artificially than at any previous time in human history. So where are the next-generation, Star Trek-like antimatter rocket engines? Only in the imaginations of futurists, and definitely not on the drawing boards, retort researchers.
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"The power we use now to make antimatter is close to a billion times more than we can produce [with antimatter]," said Dave McGinnis, an antiproton expert and department head of the Antiproton Source at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois. Fermilab is one of the worlds leading makers of antimatter for scientific study. "Its remarkably inefficient and just not economical. Thats the bottom line and the reason we dont yet have an antimatter rocket."