Editing Antimatter (section)

===Cost===
Scientists claim that antimatter is the costliest material to make.<ref name="NASA1999"/> In 2006, Gerald Smith estimated $250&nbsp;million could produce 10 milligrams of positrons<ref>
{{cite web
 |last=Steigerwald |first=B.
 |date=14 March 2006
 |title=New and Improved Antimatter Spaceship for Mars Missions
 |url=http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/antimatter_spaceship.html
 |publisher=[[NASA]]
 |quote="A rough estimate to produce the 10 milligrams of positrons needed for a human Mars mission is about 250 million dollars using technology that is currently under development," said Smith.
 |access-date=11 June 2010
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806181954/http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/antimatter_spaceship.html
 |archive-date=6 August 2011
 |url-status=live
}}</ref> (equivalent to $25&nbsp;billion per gram); in 1999, NASA gave a figure of $62.5&nbsp;trillion per gram of antihydrogen.<ref name="NASA1999">
{{cite web
 |date=12 April 1999
 |title=Reaching for the stars: Scientists examine using antimatter and fusion to propel future spacecraft
 |url=https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/1999/prop12apr99_1
 |publisher=[[NASA]]
 |quote=Antimatter is the most expensive substance on Earth
 |access-date=11 June 2010
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612110153/http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/1999/prop12apr99_1/
 |archive-date=12 June 2010
 |url-status=live
}}</ref> This is because production is difficult (only very few antiprotons are produced in reactions in particle accelerators) and because there is higher demand for other uses of [[particle accelerator]]s. According to CERN, it has cost a few hundred million [[Swiss franc]]s to produce about 1&nbsp;billionth of a gram (the amount used so far for particle/antiparticle collisions).<ref>
{{cite web
 |date=2001
 |title=Antimatter Questions & Answers
 |url=http://livefromcern.web.cern.ch/livefromcern/antimatter/FAQ1.html
 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080421220420/http://livefromcern.web.cern.ch/livefromcern/antimatter/FAQ1.html
 |archive-date=2008-04-21
 |publisher=[[CERN]]
 |access-date=24 May 2008
 |url-status=dead
}}</ref> In comparison, to produce the first atomic weapon, the cost of the [[Manhattan Project]] was estimated at $23&nbsp;billion with inflation during 2007.<ref>
{{cite web
 |title=Manhattan Project: CTBTO Preparatory Commission
 |url=http://www.ctbto.org/nuclear-testing/history-of-nuclear-testing/manhattan-project/
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222033224/http://www.ctbto.org/nuclear-testing/history-of-nuclear-testing/manhattan-project/
 |archive-date=22 December 2014
 |url-status=live
}}</ref>

Several studies funded by [[NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts]] are exploring whether it might be possible to use magnetic scoops to collect the antimatter that occurs naturally in the [[Van Allen radiation belt|Van Allen belt]] of the Earth, and ultimately the belts of gas giants like [[Jupiter]], ideally at a lower cost per gram.<ref>
{{cite web
 |last=Bickford |first=J.
 |title=Extraction of Antiparticles Concentrated in Planetary Magnetic Fields
 |url=https://www.centauri-dreams.org/wp-content/Bickford_Phase_II.pdf
 |publisher=[[NASA]] and Draper Laboratory
 | date= Aug 2007
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723210113/http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/abstracts/1071Bickford.pdf
 |archive-date=23 July 2008
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref>