  After the breakthrough from the satellite-borne PAMELA detector, the flux of
cosmic-ray (CR) antiprotons has been provided with unprecedented accuracy by
AMS-02 on the International Space Station. Its data spans an energy range from
below 1 GeV up to 400 GeV and most of the data points contain errors below the
amazing level of 5%. The bulk of the antiproton flux is expected to be produced
by the scatterings of CR protons and helium off interstellar hydrogen and
helium atoms at rest. The modeling of these interactions, which requires the
relevant production cross sections, induces an uncertainty in the determination
of the antiproton source term that can even exceed the uncertainties in the CR
$\bar{p}$ data itself. The aim of the present analysis is to determine the
uncertainty required for $p+p\rightarrow \bar{p} + X$ cross section
measurements such that the induced uncertainties on the $\bar{p}$ flux are at
the same level. Our results are discussed both in the center-of-mass reference
frame, suitable for collider experiments, and in the laboratory frame, as
occurring in the Galaxy. We find that cross section data should be collected
with accuracy better that few percent with proton beams from 10 GeV to 6 TeV
and a pseudorapidity $\eta$ ranging from 2 to almost 8 or, alternatively, with
$p_T$ from 0.04 to 2 GeV and $x_R$ from 0.02 to 0.7. Similar considerations
hold for the $p$He production channel. The present collection of data is far
from these requirements. Nevertheless, they could, in principle, be reached by
fixed target experiments with beam energies in the reach of CERN accelerators.
