우주탐사용 나노기술 개발 동향

Nanotechnology(NT) refers to a field of advanced micro-technology covering the creation and manufacturing of materials on the atomic and molecular scale and requires interdisciplinary study with various fields including materials science, physics, chemistry, electronics and others. Whileas nanotechnology is a kind of micro and small scaled science, space technology(ST) is one of the larger and system technologies utilizing broad fields of mechanical, materials, electronics and communication technologies. It is necessary to select and concentrate the functional items of nanotechnology for efficient application to be utilized in space technology, due to the cross-sectional characteristics of nanotechnology within nanomaterials, nanoelectronics, and nanomanufacturing. This paper provides the current state of art of nanotechnology in space technology by evaluating NASA's activities and the 9th frame of the project ANTARES(Analysis of Nanotechnology Applications in Space Developments and Systems) with the support of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Space Flight Management, Division Technology for Space Systems and Robotics. It has shown that it is necessary to apply nanotechnology to space technology in order to achieve international competitiveness, for the nanotechnology can bring the previously impossible things to reality. Since KARI plans to send an unmanned probe to the moon's orbit and land a probe on the moon's surface in 2025, it is urgently needed to incorporate nanotechnology to national space development plan.