In July 2021, NASA launched the Mars Perseverance rover, marking another milestone in space exploration. After a 203-day journey covering 300 million miles at speeds of around 24,600 miles per hour, the rover successfully touched down on Mars on February 18, 2021. To date, NASA’s ion thruster-powered spacecraft still holds the record for the highest speed, reaching 200,000 mph.
But what if NASA set its sights on Proxima b, a planet 4.24 light-years away? The reality is, with our current propulsion technology, we can’t get there. The rockets we rely on haven’t seen a fundamental change since the 1920s. As astronaut Scott Kelly pointed out, it would take us 800,000 years to reach the TRAPPIST-1 star system with today’s technology.
So far, every rocket launched into space has been powered by chemical-based fuel—either solid or liquid. While this fuel technology has been sufficient for missions within our solar system, it’s a major limitation for interstellar travel.
Here’s where things get interesting. Scientists and engineers are working on a new type of rocket—an antimatter rocket—that could potentially reach speeds of 72 million mph. This could be a game-changer for future space missions, offering a significant increase in thrust compared to chemical or even nuclear-based rockets. Additionally, antimatter rockets would require far less fuel.
Recent studies suggest that spacecraft powered by antimatter could achieve up to 72% of the speed of light. This technology holds the promise of making missions to Proxima b a reality, possibly reaching the exoplanet in just six years. Gerald Jackson, a former Fermilab physicist, has even suggested that, with adequate funding, antimatter-driven spacecraft prototypes could be tested within a decade, with operational antimatter rockets possible by 2050.
One company at the forefront of this innovation is Positron Dynamics, a space startup led by CEO Ryan Weed. The company is developing an antimatter rocket engine based on positrons, which are anti-electrons. This engine could be up to a thousand times more efficient than current ion/plasma thrusters, allowing for remarkable feats like looping Earth in just three seconds or reaching Mars in weeks. According to Weed, our fastest spacecraft today would take 30,000 years to reach Proxima b, underscoring the need for much more advanced propulsion systems.
What Are Antimatter Rockets?
To understand antimatter rockets, it’s essential to grasp what antimatter is. Antimatter is made up of molecules formed by atoms consisting of antiprotons, antineutrons, and positrons. These subatomic particles are the mirror image of normal matter, with reversed charges and spins. When particles of matter and antimatter come into contact, they annihilate each other, releasing a tremendous amount of energy.
The concept of antimatter dates back to 1928, when English theoretical physicist Paul Dirac proposed the existence of positively charged electrons, laying the groundwork for modern antimatter theory. An antimatter rocket would use this annihilation process to generate thrust, producing intense light in the process—a concept known as an antimatter photon rocket. However, it’s important to note that stable antimatter does not naturally occur, making this a challenging but potentially revolutionary technology.
Positron Dynamics is working on making this concept a reality, developing a new type of spacecraft that could dramatically reduce travel times within our solar system and beyond. If successful, antimatter rockets could transform our approach to space exploration, opening up possibilities that were once purely the stuff of science fiction.
Exploring the Future
While the reality of antimatter rockets is still decades away, the progress made by startups like Positron Dynamics shows a promising future for space exploration. With the ability to reach distant planets within a human lifetime, antimatter propulsion could be the key to our future in space.
Here’s a collection of videos on antimatter rockets for those curious to learn more.
Here is another video.
