Scientists from the BASE experiment at CERN successfully transported a trap containing 92 antiprotons across CERN’s main site, marking a world first.

The antiprotons were stored in a portable cryogenic Penning trap, designed to preserve them despite their tendency to annihilate upon contact with matter.

This breakthrough allows experiments to move beyond CERN’s “antimatter factory,” where magnetic fluctuations limit precision, and eventually deliver antiprotons to other European labs like Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf for high-precision measurements.

BASE-STEP, the transport apparatus, combines a superconducting magnet, cryogenic cooling, vacuum chamber, and power systems in a compact, truck-friendly 1,000-kilogram setup, CERN.com has reported.

The project represents a major step toward deeper understanding of antimatter and its fundamental differences from ordinary matter, which could help explain why the Universe is dominated by matter.