Indian-American Named Chief Engineer at NASA

New York, January 10: NASA has appointed AC Charania, an Indian-American aerospace industry expert, as its new Chief Engineer and Chief Advisor on Technology Policy and Programs at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

In his role, Charania will align NASA’s agency-wide technology investments to mission needs across six mission management offices and oversee technology collaboration with other federal agencies, the private sector, and external stakeholders.

This role belongs to NASA’s Office for Technology, Policy, and Strategy.

In a NASA press statement, Charania said, “The rate of progress we seek in the 21st century will depend on selecting and maturing technology portfolios into systems to carry out our missions.

“With this in mind, there are incredible opportunities for partnerships inside and outside NASA. Added.

Charania will serve as Chief Advisor to Bill Nelson Management. Prior to joining NASA, she was Vice President of Product Strategy at Reliable Robotics, which is working to bring certified self-driving vehicles to commercial aviation.

His previous experience also includes working with Blue Origin to mature the lunar persistence strategy, the Blue Moon lunar lander program, and multiple technology initiatives with NASA.

“AC is an experienced leader in managing large, rapidly changing technology portfolios. .

Lal served as acting chief engineer before Charania’s appointment, whose first day of duty at NASA headquarters was January 3.

Charania has also been involved in the strategy and business development of the Virgin Galactic (now Virgin Orbit) LauncherOne small satellite rocket program.

He also held multiple management and technical roles at SpaceWorks Enterprises, including helping nurture 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, was a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Fellow, and was a member of the Commercial Advisory Board of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Emory University.