President Bill Clinton has deemed nanotechnology the next industrial revolution. NASA has publicly embraced nanotechnology. The agency sees it as the future, not only of space travel but of space living.

This is excellent news. But to make the most of it, it is important to ensure that everyone involved has an agreed-upon understanding of what nanotechnology is and is not.

What is nanotechnology? Researchers in the field, such as myself, as well as the National Science Foundation and indeed the people who founded the field define it as follows:

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on the molecular and atomic level. It is the technology of building architectures from the bottom up with the precision of molecular and atomic control.

Such technology is crucial to the future of space exploration. NASA needs lighter and stronger spacecraft. Carbon nanotubes, a leading material in nanotechnology, provide the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any material ever seen, some 50 to 100 times stronger than steel and one-sixth the weight.

Nanotechnology will revolutionize sensors and actuators, synthetic devices that mimic biological processes like the sense of smell and muscle contraction. The field could make possible craft with warping wings, noninvasive medical testing in space and materials that self-repair. The materials of nanotechnology promise to avoid degradation from radiation exposure, a common problem in space.

Nanotechnology holds the key to the next century and a true revolution in the way we live and travel -- on Earth and in space. It's no wonder that interest in this new technology has spread from the academic research lab to the industrial sector to the investment community.

These various communities have one thing in common. They all want money. They're all applying for funding through the multimillion-dollar federal National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), for instance.

Nanotechnology holds the key to a true revolution in the way we live andtravel.
     

What these communities don’t yet have in common is a clear grasp of nanotechnology's definition. So it's important to understand what nanotechnology is not. It is not micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). It is not patterning semiconductor chips with an electron beam. These things are "micro"; they lack the degree of precision that qualifies as "nano." Nor is nanotechnology about taking large particles and chopping them into small ones. Yet still people form companies around this premise and call their focus "nano-materials."

If you are working on these things and thinking about applying for a grant from the NNI or any other fund focused on nanotechnology, I suggest you try elsewhere. The probability of funding is weak -- or at least it should be. Venture capital firms, most of all, need to fully understand the definition of nanotechnology and what makes this technology so significant. If they do not, then there is little hope for a successful first run at producing start-up companies to help fuel this industrial revolution.

The venture firms are the ones who have the ultimate control over what the relevant industrial community will look like ten years from now. Ultimately, it will be new companies, working as subcontractors, on which NASA will rely to make the materials for space travel that are lighter, stronger and self-repairing.

The venture community and federal agencies have a responsibility to guide funding in the proper directions. Without a clear, unanimous definition our revolution will be splintered. Communication between disciplines is the key to a successful movement. It is time we all started talking to one another.