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Satellite confirms the existence of antimatter belts surrounding our planet, opens hopes for fuel use

The proton is a familiar figure for those who have taken high school physics. With a +1 charge it is a key constituent to most of the matter of the universe. But nature holds an outlandish vanishing twin — the antiproton. This exotic antimatter particle carries a -1 charge.

© VTM Physics Blog
Fifty-six years after their first laboratory observation, a treasure trove of antiprotons — a component of antimatter (right) — has been discovered within the Earth’s magnetic field.

Now astrophysicists have discovered a treasure trove of antimatter hidden in the Earth’s magnetic field, which could hold the key to grand insights and new space travel possibilities.

I. What is Antimatter?

The antiproton was first predicted by luminary physicist Paul Dirac in his 1933 Nobel Prize lecture [PDF]. It would take physicists over two decades to prove Professor Dirac right. In 1955 Emilio Segrè and Owen Chamberlain, research professors at the University of California, Berkley, Read more…