The experiments, which are slated for the year 2000, will attempt to measure the energy produced when antimatter and matter combine. Antimatter is the mirror image of matter, but their subatomic particles have opposite electrical charges. When the two collide, they annihilate each other, causing a powerful burst of energy. There's a real, promised payoff. I see this becoming a useful energy source, serving mankind down the road.
Antimatter is no longer just the stuff of science fiction and movies.
Antimatter kindled NASA's interest, because of its potential to propel a manned craft into deep space. Chemical rockets would need too much bulky fuel to make it to the edge of our solar system. No word yet, though, on how it performs in the city. But his real goal is to send a probe out past Pluto, more than 10 astronomical units from Earth, out of our solar system and into interstellar space by the year 2050. All we need is the engine to get there.