Antimatter rockets

Before any form of antimatter rocket can exist, a lightweight method must be developed for producing antiparticles at a flow rate of grains/second in contrast with the few dozen of antiparlicles produced in research laboratory generators. Also, a practical storage or containment method must arise inasmuch as antiparticles explode violently upon contact with normal matter. Reference 5 gives a performance estimate of an Ip of 3.06 x 10 seconds for a rocket propelled vehicle with a thrust/weight ratio of 10 1... 

Sufficient atomic particle research has been accomplished to warrant discussion of possible methods of applying energy available from particle mass annihilation to rocket propulsion. Complete conversion of matter to energy would allow exhaust velocities near that of light to be obtained from a propulsion device. Antimatter, by definition is matter made up of antiparticles, such as antineutrons, negatrons (antiprotons), and positrons (anheledrons). An annihilation property is known to exist between particles with one particle termed the anhparticle of the other. 

The field of propulsion deals with the means by which aircraft, missiles, and spacecraft are propelled toward their destinations. Subjects of development include propellers and rotors driven by internal combustion engines or jet engines, rockets powered by solid- or liquid-fueled engines, spacecraft powered by ion engines, solar sails or nuclear reactors, and matter-antimatter engines. Propulsion system metrics include thrust, power, cycle efficiency, propulsion efficiency, specific impulse, and thrust-specific fuel consumption. Advances in this field have enabled hiunanity to travel across the world in a few hours, visit space and the Moon, and send probes to distant planets. 

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