Nanotechnology

<p>The U.S. is at a critical juncture in space and national security leaders should take heed. Global competitors have begun to rapidly erode the U.S.' lead in space supremacy. The employment of U.S. land sea air and cyber warfighting capabilities in the nation's defense are critically dependent today on the availability reliability and viability of U.S. space assets and always will be. Henceforth space is vital to the nation's security now and in the future. The biggest challenges the U.S. faces in the acquisition and launch of additional secure advanced and hardened space assets are their massive cost coupled with their enormous weight the ability to provide lift to supply extended power and to manage heat. This crossroad requires innovation thinking out-of-the-box and a focus on exponential technological possibilities. Nanotechnology a disruptive technology ripe for exploitation is an underlying technology that makes other things possible. It is the likely driving force of the next industrial revolution. The properties of nanotechnology-enabled systems and materials are ideal for space. In the near term these space systems will have significantly enhanced flexibility robustness and performance capabilities with reduced costs. The high payoffs include ultra small sensors communication and navigation power sources and propulsion; dramatically reduced emission mass volume heat and power and fuel consumption; easily reconfigurable autonomous systems; and multifunctioning single chip satellites. In the longer-term they may include systems with 1000 times the performance and weapon systems enabled by nanotechnology. This paper contends that aggressive development of nanotechnology-enabled space systems by the U.S. today has the potential to facilitate the nation's future space viability and dominance in 2035 and beyond.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>