Antimatter Propulsion for Interstellar Travel via Positron Production from Potassium-40 Rich Biological Matter

TL;DR

This paper proposes that potassium-40 rich biological matter, like bananas, could serve as a natural antimatter source for interstellar propulsion, potentially overcoming manufacturing limitations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel idea that naturally occurring potassium-40 in biological matter can be harnessed for antimatter production for space travel.

Findings

Potassium-40 in biological matter can produce antimatter.

Bananas are identified as a promising antimatter source.

This approach could mitigate the scarcity of artificially manufactured antimatter.

Abstract

Anitmatter-based propulsion is often cited as a physically plausible route to relativistic interstellar travel, and thus as a potential mechanism by which technologically advanced civilizations could expand throughout the galaxy. Its difficulty may be central to the resolution of Fermi's paradox. Since the Universe should be teaming with advanced technological life, yet we see none, it may be that interstellar travel is simply too difficult. It has been suggested that the main difficulty with using antimatter as propulsion is its limited availability, assuming it must be artificially manufactured. In this paper, we demonstrate that naturally occurring potassium 40 - rich biological matter (specifically bananas) is a promising, overlooked antimatter source for interstellar propulsion.