IntroductionNanotechnology has great potential to become the key technology in the coming decades. Nanomanipulation or control techniques on a nanotechnological and even atomic-molecular scale are present in all fields of science and imply, according to experts, a revolution. Future developments of this technology, such as three-dimensional micromachining, microsensors, nanostructured materials and microelectromechanical systems, apply whether to computing, drug manufacturing or the development of the smallest materials ever. In all countries at the forefront of technological development, research on nanotechnologies applied to different fields such as aeronautics and space, communications and media, biomedicine or the process control industry is becoming increasingly relevant. In fact, the Clinton administration announced last year, with the National Nanotechnology Initiative, an allocation of 422 million dollars. Nanotechnology applied to computingThings have changed a lot since the first electronic computers. ENIAC I was developed at the University of Pennsylvania in 1945 and consisted of more than 70,000. resistors, 18,000 capacitors and 10,000 valves; it weighed 30,000 kilos and occupied 1,300 square meters. But the discovery of the chip in the mid-1970s reduced, fortunately for everyone, the size of computers. The first technology used 486 microns (millionth of a meter). Until recently, mainstream technology used 0.35 and 0.25 micron Pentiums. More modern models have reduced this value to 0.18 microns, and more recently, Intel and AMD have announced 0.13 micron technology. According to some studies, the computing power will stop in 10 years, because the size of the transistors cannot ...... half of the paper ......el through space or nano known as NANOSAT , a development project of a Spanish nanosatellite, launched in 1995. The NANOSAT is part of a concept created by INTA and whose management and construction is carried out entirely in Spain, based on a new design philosophy: smaller, more powerful, faster, with a given specific application, with higher performance and lower power consumption. The success of this innovative project can ensure a significant Spanish presence in the future "small revolution in space". Nanotechnology for the environmentNanotechnology could save technology on planet Earth, which would be helped by the creation of new, durable and non-polluting materials. No waste is generated in production processes, raw materials could be manufactured from components without generating toxic by-products and inexhaustible solar energy would benefit.