The world’s first trillionaire, Elon Musk, has predicted that trillions of dollars will be spent on antimatter propulsion in the future as humanity attempts to travel to other star systems. The idea was supported by NASA’s top boss, Jared Isaacman, setting the tone for what could come in the near future. 

Using antimatter propulsion to travel to far-away solar systems might sound straight out of science fiction, but that’s exactly how big ideas come to life. A human settlement on the Moon has been used multiple times in sci-fiction, and it is most likely to become a reality in the coming decade, if not earlier. 

Musk’s own success in recent years has come from pushing ideas that sound straight out of science fiction into reality. Whether the electric car or a rocket powerful enough to send a human mission to Mars, Musk has been predicting them to come true. 

Recently, the SpaceX founder and CEO shared a new prediction about antimatter propulsion on the social media platform X and received overwhelming support. 

What is antimatter propulsion? 

To fully understand what Musk and Isaacman are pondering, we need to take a quick detour to school physics. The world we live in is made up of matter. It is everything that we can see, touch, or interact with. It is composed of atoms, which are in turn composed of subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. 

However, there is also antimatter, which is the opposite of matter. The subatomic particles that make up antimatter are called antiprotons, antineutrons, and positrons (positively charged electrons). 

When matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate each other and release large amounts of energy, which can be used to propel engines. The reason Musk is keen on something like this is that the efficiency of this matter-antimatter interaction is 100 percent: all matter and antimatter are converted into energy, with no leftover particles or emissions. 

Moreover, this interaction can produce 10 billion times more energy per unit mass than chemical combustion can. This means rockets can travel much farther, carry heavier payloads, and even travel faster, using way much less onboard fuel than is carried today. This opens up opportunities for interstellar travel. 

The challenge

The major challenge to achieving this, though, is that it is largely theoretical. Not the antimatter part, but how it could be used for propulsion. Laboratories like the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have already produced antimatter and know how to keep it safe in matter-based containers. 

The challenge is to make it at large scales where it could be made to interact with matter and then also design engines that can use the interaction in a controlled manner for propulsion. Musk’s simple X post predicts that trillions of dollars need to be spent on the research to turn this into a reality. 

As Gizmodo pointed out, startups like Positron Dynamics have already claimed that their positron-based technology makes rocket engines 1,000 times more efficient than state-of-the-art ion thrusters. 

This is where Isaacman’s support could help. While NASA has supported theoretical research on antimatter, if Isaacman and the team at NASA could sharpen the focus on antimatter propulsion, more money could flow into its research. 

Although NASA’s current focus is on ensuring that the Artemis Missions to the Moon are executed on schedule, the next steps will definitely be to target missions to Mars and then beyond. 

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