I promise you, this isn't something from Coast-to-Coast AM: A former FermiLab researcher thinks he can make an antimatter engine, one that could accelerate a spaceship to 40 percent of the speed of light. And he intends to start a Kickstarter to help him build the proof of concept.
For the paltry price of $200,000, Gerald Jackson and Steven Howe (formerly of Fermilab and Los Alamos, respectively) say they can create a thrust measurement device. That device will be used to measure the thrust between a conventional thrust engine and a lightsail that would be bombarded with antimatter to push a spacecraft. They already have some pieces of their elaborate puzzle dreamed up under the banner of Hbar Technologies, LLC, but funding dried up a few years ago.
Their grand plan is to send a lightweight probe to the Alpha Centauri system, which would use a lightsail system built partly out of depleted uranium. With 17 grams of antimatter on board, the craft would slowly accelerate toward the speed of light, topping out at about 40 percent of that mark. The probe would reach its destination in 16 to18 years.
Big waste of money and time. They need to do their homework. To read more, click here.