Antimatter requirements and energy costs for near-term propulsion applications

The superior energy density of antimatter annihilation has often been point ed to as the ultimate source of energy for propulsion. However, the limited capacity and very low efficiency of present-day antiproton production meth ods suggest that antimatter may be too costly to consider for near-term pro pulsion applications. We address this issue by assessing the antimatter req uirements fur six different types of propulsion concepts, including two in which antiprotons are used to drive energy release from combined fission/fu sion, These requirements art: compared against the capacity of both the cur rent antimatter production infrastructure and the improved capabilities tha t could exist within the early part of next century. Results show that alth ough it may be impractical to consider systems that rely on antimatter as t he sole source of propulsive energy, the requirements for propulsion based on antimatter-assisted fission/fusion do fall within projected near-term pr oduction capabilities, In fact, a new facility designed solely for antiprot on production but based on existing technology could feasibly support inter stellar precursor missions and omniplanetary spaceflight with antimatter co sts ranging up to $6.4 x 10(6) per mission.