NASA named Indian-American aerospace industry expert A.C. Charania as the new chief technologist to serve as principal advisor on technology policy and programs at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.

NASA appointed Indian-American aerospace industry expert A.C. Charania as its new chief technologist to serve as its principal advisor on technology policy and programs at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. Charania will align NASA’s agency-wide technology investments with mission requirements across six mission directorates and supervise technology collaboration with other federal agencies, the private sector, and external stakeholders.

The role is bound to NASA’s Office for technology, policy, and strategy. In a NASA press statement, Charania stated that the advancement rate sought in the 21^st century is dependent upon selecting and improving a portfolio of technologies into systems to implement the missions. With this in mind, there are interesting partnership opportunities within and outside NASA. He added that he looks forward to the opportunity to collaborate with the entire community to enhance the rate of space and aviation progress.

Charania will work as the principal advisor to Administrator Bill Nelson. Prior to joining NASA, he served in Reliable Robotics as vice president of product strategy, a company working to bring certified autonomous vehicles to commercial aviation. His previous experience includes working at Blue Origin to advance its lunar permanence strategy, the Blue Moon lunar lander program, and various technology initiatives with NASA.

Bhavya Lal, NASA's associate administrator for technology, policy, and strategy, mentioned in a press statement that A.C. is an experienced leader in managing large, rapidly shifting technology portfolios, and she is eager for him to apply his knowledge and enthusiasm at NASA. Lal was the acting chief technologist before the appointment of Charania.

Furthermore, Charania has worked in strategy and business development for Virgin Galactic, presently Virgin Orbit, and the LauncherOne small satellite launch vehicle program. He has also served in various management and technology roles at SpaceWorks Enterprises, including helping to incubate two startups, Generation Orbit and Terminal Velocity Aerospace.

Charania has also led the establishment of the FastForward industry group focused on high-speed point-to-point transportation. He was a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow and served on the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group Commercial Advisory Board. He completed his bachelor's and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s in economics from Emory University.