Concepts, Problems, & Opportunities for use of Annihilation Energy:

An Annotated Briefing on Near-Term RDT&E to Assess Feasibility

RAND Note N-2302-AF/RC

B. W. Augenstein

ANTIMATTER ECONOMICS - CONSERVATIVE VIEW

When use antimatter?

/Cost antimatter production handling/ < /cost savings by use/

Current high energy physics use example

Colliding beam technology
Cost: one accelerator + antimatter production < cost: two accelerator systems

Space platform use

Platform mass major cost determinant
Reducing platform mass - high leverage driver for antimatter use

Platform fabrication + launch costs: LEO example

Fuels, fluids, tanks, pumps, lines, valves ~$5-10x10⁶/mt
Payloads, other dry hardware ~20-40x10⁶/mt
"average" perhaps $15-25x10⁶/mt

LEO platform application questions to ask
- Use of X amount of antimatter reduces platform mass by n mt?
- Cost of X amount < ~$15-25x10⁶xN?

The cost of producing antimatter will (with known techniques) be high; specific estimates will be given subsequently. When or whether to use annihilation energies will then in very important respects be an economic issue. That economic issue has two aspects:

Cases where annihilation energy simply replaces other available alternatives (the "conservative view").
Cases where no alternative is available and/or practical. These cases likely include effective interstellar flight technologies, for example.

In this Note we focus largely on the conservative view. The specific systems example treated consequently considers replacement of certain functions, which could be done in other ways, on a space vehicle. Here there are identifiable circumstances where the use of annihilation energies can in principle save significant platform mass. The cost of fabricating and launching into orbit this conventional platform saved mass can then be compared to the cost of producing, storing and handling the requisite antimatter to perform comparable missions. If the cost of the latter is below the cost of the former, favorable circumstances for use of antimatter exist.