Simulation of an Antimatter Beam Core Engine for Space Travel

Abstract

An exciting prospect is the use of antimatter as a fuel source due to its ability to convert mass energy to kinetic energy. Upon annihilation of antimatter with matter, tremendous amounts of energy are carried away by charged and neutral particles. By redirecting the charged particles through an exhaust using a non-uniform magnetic field, an impulse can be generated capable of supplying thrust to an engine. Using the Geant 4 simulation toolkit developed by CERN, we simulate this process using a beam core engine design. By analyzing charged pions that result from antiproton-proton annihilation, we optimize the engine parameters and derive a specific impulse for antiproton fuel as used in the beam core configuration. A specific impulse of (2.49 ± 0.08) × 10 6 s was determined. This value is significantly higher than specific impulses of current chemical rocket fuels which range from 240 - 400 s.