Doctor Who Series 11: 10 Big Questions After Episode 5
6. How Accurate Was The Science?
The Doctor describes the Anti-Matter drive as like the Iphone version of CERN, meaning the particle accelerator the Hadron Collider. The episode imagines what the technology, currently in its infancy, would be like in the far flung future. Stored safely in an electromagnetic field even tiny amounts of positrons can generate a tremendous amount of energy that in theory could provide a sustainable power source.
NASA are indeed investigating the possibility of creating anti-matter drives and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that technology such as that on board the Tsuranga could be the norm in centuries to come, perhaps even well before the 67th.
It’s certainly the most scientifically accurate use of anti-matter in Doctor Who. In The Three Doctors, science and fantasy are merged as the Doctor and his friends face off against anti-matter monsters and even enter and survive an anti-matter world. In The Planet of Evil the Doctor and co are once again confronted by anti-matter beings, and at one point, despite the devastating consequences of anti-matter and matter colliding in real life, the Doctor carries some of it around in a bucket!