Researchers at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) are looking for experimental confirmation to establish the existence of antigravity . The secrets of antigravity may be unlocked, they believe, by an in-depth study and exploration of the properties of anti-matter and this could he unleash the concept of the ‘warp drive’ from Star Trek scripts and release it into the real world.

An Antimatter Primer

As the mirror version of regular matter, anti-matter particles carry the opposite charge of their counterparts. So while the electron and proton that determine atomic structure feature negative and positive charges respectively, the charges of a positron (the antimatter version of an electron) and antiproton (the antimatter version of a proton) are the reverse. Consequently, when matching particles of matter and antimatter meet, the result is mutual annihilation, with both particles being converted to pure energy.

But there may be more differences between matter and antimatter than having opposite electrical charges. Their reaction to the influence of gravity may also be the opposite, although this has yet to be experimentally confirmed. If this does turn out to be the case, it means that if antimatter were exposed to a gravitational field it might move away from instead of toward the body creating that field. If it exists, this contrary movement would be a demonstration of antigravity in action.

Based on the standard model of physics, most scientists expect antimatter and matter to react identically to gravity. But they are raising the question anyway, mainly because of how little antimatter has actually been studied up to now. Until there are experimental results, nothing can be known for sure.

Thankfully, this situation is about to change. After pondering the problem, scientists at CERN have come up with an experimental design that will allow them to test the reactions of antimatter particles to gravity. The results they achieve should be definitive, and if they discover an antigravity effect it will change physics forever.

CERN and the Antigravity Explorers

During their ongoing ALPHA antimatter study experiment , physicists working at CERN have been able to create antimatter in the form of electrically neutral antihydrogen particles, which have then been subjected to close scrutiny to verify their characteristics.

Antimatter cannot be handled in the traditional sense. Since we are made of regular matter, any attempt to touch it or otherwise make physical contact with it would destroy us in an instant. Therefore, electromagnetic traps had to be developed at CERN that would hold antimatter particles trapped in midair, so they could be studied in safe conditions while they remained stable and under control.

While caught in these traps, the antihydrogen particles have been measured and analysed. This testing has confirmed that they are indeed the mirror images of normal atoms of hydrogen, and that they possess all the expected (reverse) properties.

Despite the comprehensiveness of the initial testing, gravity was excluded from the equation. This was because of experimental limitations that made the effects of gravity hard to isolate. But after a few years of brainstorming CERN scientists have now figured out how to track the reactions of antimatter particles to gravity exclusively, and they will soon be proceeding with a pair of experiments that should settle that question once and for all.

ALPHA-g (a modified form of the original ALPHA experiment) and GBAR are the names of the two experiments. In each case, antiprotons will be created inside particle accelerators and combined with positrons to create neutral atoms of antihydrogen. Working with antihydrogen makes sense because it is the most basic element antimatter and is relatively easy to produce, and because it is electrically neutral and not skew the results of the experiment by reacting to electromagnetic forces.

In each experiment, the antihydrogen atoms will be subjected to what is called a ‘drop test.’ The suspended particles will be released inside a gravitational field, and the researchers will see if they move down or up, or if the downward acceleration is slower than that of a matching hydrogen atom.

If in fact it is shown that antimatter reacts differently than matter to gravity, either by falling at a slower-than-predicted rate or actually moving away from the generator of the gravitational force, this could totally revolutionize the laws of physics. Antigravity could become a thing, breaking through barriers to space exploration that in the past might have seemed impregnable.

Of course, it would not be possible to harness the power of antigravity by building spaceships from antimatter. Nothing can touch antimatter without being destroyed in a blast of pure energy. But with a technology that holds antimatter trapped in place, it would be possible to manipulate the force of gravity in ways that could cancel, minimize or redirect its effects. This would mean much speedier acceleration for spaceships, which would no longer face any gravitational drag from astronomical bodies like the Sun, Moon or Earth.

Most revolutionary of all, the discovery of antigravity could extract the concept of the ‘warp drive’ from Star Trek scripts and release it into the real world. According to the mathematical solution for General Relativity discovered by theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994, spacetime could be deformed by antigravity forces to allow for faster-than-light travel, should it be confirmed that such a thing as antigravity exists and can be generated by human technology.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until 2021 to get answers. ALPHA-g and GBAR will not be commence until then, since the particle accelerators at CERN have now been shut down for a facility upgrade and will not be restarted again for another two years. Without these accelerators, it will not be possible to create the antiprotons needed to make these experiments work.

Is Antigravity Here Already?

Antigravity is a concept frequently featured in science fiction stories. Its theoretical basis in these tales has seldom been made clear, but imagining antigravity technology into existence has set science fiction writers free to create spellbinding stories of intrigue about interstellar travel and alien contact.

But are these really just stories? And do we really need CERN to authenticate the existence of antigravity? Is it possible that antigravity was discovered long ago, but has been kept secret from the general public and mainstream scientists alike?

For many years, rumors and conspiracy theories have been bouncing around asserting that the secrets of antigravity have already been discovered by the United States government. During the 2001 Citizens Hearing on Disclosure , whistleblowers with connections to the military-industrial complex claimed that extraterrestrial craft using antigravity propulsion systems had been retrieved from crash sites and reverse engineered for human use.

For many years, credible witnesses have reported seeing gigantic black triangles floating silently and swiftly above their heads in the United States, Belgium and many other locations, apparently under the control of technology capable of defying gravity. Many believe these are experimental aircraft, quite possibly based on alien technology, which have been built in secret black projects undertaken at Area 51 or other hidden sites.

Naturally, we must take reports from supposed whistleblowers, and from UFO gadflys like the infamous Stephen Greer, the primary organiser of the Citizens Hearing on Disclosure, with a grain of salt. But average citizens with no connection to UFO research have been reporting their sightings of the giant black triangles for more than two decades, and in some instances these mysterious flying machines have even been recorded on film. This strongly suggest some kind of antigravity technology is in use by someone, whether they’re alien or human. Either way, the implications of these sightings are earth-shaking.

Top image: Warp speed travel. Peter Jurik / Adobe Stock

By Nathan Falde