Indian-American AC Charania has been appointed as NASA’s new chief technologist and will be serving as principal advisor to Administrator Bill Nelson on technology policy and programs at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington.
Charania joined the space agency on January 3. His position as a chief technologist aligns NASA’s agency-wide technology investments with mission needs across six mission directorates and oversees technology collaboration with other federal agencies, the private sector, and external stakeholders. The position works within NASA’s Office for Technology, Policy, and Strategy, NASA said in a statement on Monday.
He replaces another Indian-American scientist Bhavya Lal, who served as acting chief technologist. “Technology plays a vital role in every NASA mission. Making sure that we’re pursuing the best policy objectives allows this agency to continue to serve as a global leader in innovation,” said Lal.
“A.C. is an experienced leader in managing large, rapidly shifting technology portfolios. I am eager for him to apply his knowledge and enthusiasm at NASA,” Lal added.
Charania said he looked forward work with the entire community to increase the rate of space and aviation progress. “The rate of advancement we seek in the 21st century is dependent upon selecting and maturing a portfolio of technologies into systems to execute our missions,” he said.
“With this in mind, there are incredible opportunities in partnerships within and outside of NASA. I now look forward to the opportunity to work with the entire community to increase the rate of space and aviation progress,” he added.
- Charania served as vice president of product strategy at Reliable Robotics, a firm that is working to bring certified autonomous vehicles to commercial aviation.
- He has also worked at Blue Origin to mature its lunar permanence strategy, Blue Moon lunar lander program, and multiple technology initiatives with NASA.
- Charania worked in strategy and business development for the Virgin Galactic (now Virgin Orbit) LauncherOne small satellite launch vehicle program.
- At SpaceWorks Enterprises, Charania served in multiple management and technology roles, including helping to incubate two startups, Generation Orbit and Terminal Velocity Aerospace.
- Charania led the formation of the FastForward industry group focused on high-speed point-to-point transportation.
- He was also a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow and served on the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group Commercial Advisory Board.
- Charania received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s in economics from Emory University.
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