US EditionCERN Successfully Transports Antimatter by Truck in World-First Test Drive
Researchers transported 92 antiprotons in a portable cryogenic trap around CERN’s campus, marking a crucial step toward precise antimatter experiments at distant labs, CERN said.
- On Tuesday, March 24, 2026, CERN's BASE-STEP team successfully completed the first-ever road transport of antiprotons, driving a specialized 1,000-kilogram cryogenic trap around the Geneva campus to confirm system viability.
- To overcome research limitations, CERN scientists developed the BASE-STEP transportable Penning trap, enabling movement of antiprotons from the lab's 'Antimatter Factory' to external facilities for higher-precision matter-antimatter comparisons.
- Superconducting magnets cooled to-269°C kept roughly 91 of 100 antiprotons suspended in a vacuum, a process CERN officials confirmed posed no environmental danger due to the extremely small quantity involved.
- Physicist Stefan Ulmer called the successful test the 'starting point to a new era' for the field, while technical coordinator Francois Butin said 'It's fantastic!' about the achievement.
- Future plans involve delivering antiprotons to Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, though researchers must extend the trap's four-hour autonomous hold time to accommodate the eight-hour drive.
112 Articles
112 Articles
World's First Antimatter Delivery by Truck Signals a 'New Era' in Physics
CERN scientists on Tuesday pulled off the unprecedented feat of transporting antiprotons by road, successfully test-driving the world's first antimatter delivery system, with an eye to one day supplying research labs across Europe.
For the first time in human history, researchers have moved antimatter, actually 92 particles of probably the most valuable substance in the world. Transporting to another place could help solve the greatest mystery of the universe.
European CERN scientists have found a way to capture 92 antiprotons in a 10-kilometre trucked ion trap.
For the first time, the European nuclear research centre CERN in Geneva has succeeded in transporting antimatter on the road. The test drive could be the first step to solve one of the biggest puzzles of particle physics. By Kathrin Hondl.
For the first time, antimatter has been transported over several kilometers. A research team has made history – and opened new doors.
Meyrin, Switzerland. On Tuesday, CERN scientists achieved the unprecedented feat of transporting antiprotons by road, successfully testing the world’s first antimatter delivery system, with a view to one day supplying research laboratories across Europe. “Particles returned... so it was a success,” CERN physicist Stefan Ulmer told reporters after the big truck will return after a 10-kilometer tour of the campus of Europe’s main physics laborator…
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