EXO-200, a new underground particle detector, is set to go online next year

The possibility of the EXO-200 underground particle detector uncovering some of the mystery behind any matter/antimatter assymetry could prove very useful, not only for the field of cosmology and particle physics, but in the very long run, also within the fields of applied science and engineering.

The possibility of any future technology that could rransform matter into antimatter using considerably less energy than the equivalent of the rest mass of the matter so converted would be a dream come true for designers of high mass specific energy storage density materials and high mass specific power output systems.

In addition, military planners and commanders would have a whole new class of defense technology at their disposal. One gram of antimatter, combined with one gram of matter, or one gram of antimatter released out into the ambient environment would have a yield of about 45 kilotons which is the equivalent of 4 atomic bombs, each with the yield of the 12 kiloton bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. If the antimatter was released within the atmosphere, a flood of high energy gamma rays would result thus producing a very efficient release of lethal ionizing EM radiation.

The prospects for space travel are even more amazing. Antimatter/Matter reaction powered photon rockets could in theory reach relativistic gamma factors as high as 1,000, or higher, assumming an effective several stage rocket with reaction to ship kinetic energy conversion efficiency greater than 95 percent. Electrodynamic breaking mechanisms could be used to slow the craft down without the need for reverse rocket motor thrust mechanisms.

Perhaps the discovery of a mechanism for broken symmetry will lead to the discovery of a theoretical correction mechanism by which the matter/antimatter related broken symmetry can be corrected. This correction might take the form of another symmetry that is distinct from the still theoretical Super Symmetry.