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INTRODUCTION
HISTORY

Begins with young physicist named PAUL A.M.DIRAC(1902-1984).

In 1932 Carl Anderson observed new particle and named it as positron.

In 1955 scientists created the first anti hydrogen atom at the CERN research facility in Europe .

ANTIMATTER PRODUCTION
Accelerating protons to relativistic velocities and slamming them into a metal target.

The kinetic energy of the rapidly moving protons is converted into matter in the form of various subatomic particles, some of which are anti protons.

Anti protons are electro magnetically separated from the other particles, then they are captured and cooled (slowed) by a Radio-Frequency Quadrapole (RFQ) linear accelerator .

ANTIMATTER PRODUCTION
ANTI MATTER STORAGE
They must be contained by electromagnetic fields in high vacuums.

The storage cell is called a Penning trap; it uses magnetic fields to trap charged particles.

Positive antielectrons are combined with negative anti protons to form antihydrogen atoms.

PENNING TRAP
PORTABLE ANTIPROTON PENNING TRAP

Developed by Pennsylvania State University (PSU).

It is designed to hold —1010 antiprotons.

The actual antiproton storage compartment is kept at liquid helium temperatures so as to keep the antiprotons ‘cool” .
PORTABLE ANTIPROTON PENNING TRAP
ANTI MATTER PROPULSION



ANTI MATTER ROCKET ENGINE
Three main components
Storage system ,Feed system ,Thruster
Antimatter stored in the form of solid pellets
Penning trap is limited to about 1010 particles
However storage as a solid requires low temperature to prevent sublimation of the pellets
ANTIMATTER ENGINE
Gaseous antihydrogen could not be contained; only the solid (or liquid) is diamagnetic and can be levitated by a magnetic field
Finally normal hydrogen is used as the propellant working fluid; an excess of hydrogen is used such that the annihilation energy between a small amount of antihydrogen and normal hydrogen heats a large mass of normal hydrogen
This annihilation is accomplished inside the thruster
Schematic Diagram
ANTIMATTER THRUSTERS
Solid-core,Gas-core,Plasma-core,Beam-core thrusters
The solid-core thruster is similar in concept to nuclear rocket. Antiprotons annihilate inside a solid core heat exchanger made of tungsten or graphite. The annihilation heats the core, which in turn heats hydrogen propellant flowing through the core
This device is very efficient and produces high thrust
THRUSTERS
The plasma-core thruster, which is similar to earlier one but operates by annihilating larger amounts of antimatter in H2 to produce hot plasma
To produce thrust, the heated plasma is then exhausted through one end of the magnetic bottle
It can therefore achieve much higher specific impulse in the range of 5000 to 100,000 Ibf-s/lbm at useful thrust levels
ANTIMATTER THRUSTER
In the gas-core device, antimatter is annihilated directly in the H2 propellant to be exhausted
Magnetic fields are used to contain only the energetic charged pions (p+, p-) which spiral into the H2 gas to heat it. The heated H2 is then expanded through a conventional rocket engine
The device is less effective or less efficient than the solid-core concept but could possibly achieve higher specific impulse in the range up to 2500 lbf-s/lbm.
THRUSTERS
the beam-core thruster employs a diverging magnetic field just upstream of the annihilation point between the antimatter and low density H2
Thus the charged pions are traveling close to the speed of light, the specific impulse of the device could possibly range as high as l0 lbfs/Ibm, but at very low thrust levels.
DIAGRAM
ANTIMATTER ROCKET FOR INTERSTELLAR MISSIONS
ANTIMATTER ROCKET FOR INTERSTELLAR MISSIONS
This image represents an antimatter rocket with a beam-core thruster. The long length of the vehicle is required due to the long distance that the proton antiproton annihilation products travel
Thus the magnetic nozzle of the vehicle might be as short as 21 m or as long as several kilometers in length to effectively or efficiently capture and direct the pions and muons to produce thrust

INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION (ICF) PROPULSION
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) requires high-power lasers or particle beams to compress and heat a pellet of fusion fuel to fusion ignition conditions

Compression of the pellet is accomplished by an equal and opposite reaction to the outward explosion of the surface pellet material
to take the lasers off of the vehicle and place them in a remote location (e.g., Earth orbit) and beam the laser energy to the vehicle
DIAGRAM
ANTIPROTON-CATALYZED MICRO-FISSION/ FUSION PROPULSION
In this approach to ICF propulsion, a pellet containing Uranium(U) fission fuel and deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion fuel is compressed i lasers, ion beams, etc. At (he time of peak compression, the target is bombarded with a small number (108-1011) of antiprotons to catalyze the uranium fission process

ICAN PROPULSION VEHICLE ENGINE
ADVANTAGES
I. When antimatter comes into contact with normal matter, these equal but opposite particle collides to produce an explosion emitting pure radiation. This explosion transfers the entire mass of both objects into energy, which is believed to be more powerful than any that can be generated by other propulsion system.
II. In ICAN propulsion vehicle, a small amount of antimatter is used to trigger the micro-fission/fusion reaction. Thus the antimatter acts as a catalyst to drive another reaction
LIMITATIONS
I. As we know that antiprotons annihilate spontaneously when brought into contact with normal matter, thus they must be contained by electromagnetic fields in high vacuums

II. Finally, current production technology has an energy efficiency of about an order of nanograms per year
During the matter anti-matter annihilation, some amount of gamma rays is produced. These rays are harmful to the onboard passengers/crews traveling in it. Research is going on to rectify it
CONCLUSION
Currently, just 14 nanograms of antiprotons would be enough fuel to send a manned spacecraft to Mars in one month. Today it takes nearly a year for an unmanned spacecraft to reach Mars. Scientists believe that the speed of a matter- antimatter powered spacecraft would allow man to go where no man has gone before in space. Meanwhile lots of research & studies are going on to use the small fraction of antimatter available on earth (which where artificially produced) to trigger the micro fission) fusion reaction in an ICAN propulsion vehicle. Anyhow, after some decades it would be possible to make trips to Jupiter and even beyond the heliopause,the point at which the sun’s radiation ends