TOP 10 SCRAPPED SPACESHIPS : Antimatter Mars Ship

by Lauren Effron and Dave Mosher

1. Antimatter Mars Ship

As the space shuttle nears retirement and NASA works on its next moon-bound program, engineers' imaginations are still running wild envisioning manned missions to Mars and beyond (including Ceres in the Asteroid Belt).

One ship would use an M&M's worth of antimatter to efficiently blast astronauts around the Solar System -- to Mars and back in 45 days, some supporters speculate. While the amount of fuel seems trivial, manufacturing it would take years and, with current systems, cost more than $100 trillion.

More kinks to work out: There's presently no way to safely store antimatter, and when it encounters normal matter, the reactions create intense gamma rays dangerous to the crew.

If engineers can iron out these problems, however, antimatter just might be the next best thing to light-speed travel.

Article posted September 18, 2008.

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