An Indian-American aerospace industry expert,  AC Charania , has been named as NASA's new chief technologist to serve as principal advisor to Administrator Bill Nelson on technology policy and programmes at the space agency's headquarters in Washington.

According to a statement released by NASA on Monday, AC Charania will oversee technology engagement with other government agencies, the private sector, and external stakeholders while also coordinating NASA's agency-wide technology investments with mission priorities across six mission directorates. The position works within NASA's Office for Technology, Policy, and Strategy.

"Every NASA mission relies heavily on technology. This agency can continue to be a leader in innovation if we make sure we're following the proper policy goals, Bhavya Lal, NASA administrator for technology, policy, and strategy, was quoted as saying in the statement.

"Charania is an accomplished manager of huge, dynamic technology portfolios.  I am eager for him to apply his experptise and enthusiasm at NASA," Lal said. The statement from Charania read  that "the rate of advancement we aspire in the 21st century is based upon selecting and maturing a portfolio of technologies into systems to accomplish our tasks."
Before Charania was appointed, Lal held the position of acting chief technologist. Charania started working at NASA Headquarters on January 3.

“With this in mind, there are incredible opportunities in partnerships within and outside of NASA. I look forward to the opportunity to work with the whole community to increase the rate of space and aviation progress,” he added.
He was vice president of product strategy at Reliable Robotics, a company that strives to introduce approved autonomous vehicles to commercial aviation, before he joined NASA. In the past, he has also contributed to the development of Blue Origin's plan for lunar permanence, the Blue Moon lunar lander programme, and numerous technical efforts with NASA.

For the LauncherOne small satellite launch vehicle programme at Virgin Galactic (now Virgin Orbit), Charania has also worked in strategy and commercial development.

 Charania was a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow and a member of the Commercial Advisory Board for the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group. He also oversaw the establishment of the FastForward industry group, which is devoted to high-speed point-to-point transportation. He holds degrees in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University as well as a bachelor's in economics.

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