A.C. Charania is NASA’s new chief technologist and will serve as the principal advisor to the Administrator Bill Nelson regarding technology policy and programs at the Headquarters, in Washington D.C. He will serve as a leader in technology innovation.
The chief technologist coordinates technology investments across six mission directorates to ensure alignment with mission-centric needs, and oversees technology coordination efforts across the rest of the Federal government, the private sector, and others. The position inhabits the Office for Technology, Policy and Strategy at NASA.
“Technology is always an important factor in every mission at NASA. Ensuring that we are pursuing the best policy objectives supports the agency’s efforts to remain the world leader in innovation,” said Bhavya Lal, NASA associate administrator for technology, policy and strategy. “A.C. is an experienced leader in managing large, rapidly changing technology portfolios. I am excited for him to use his expertise and passion at NASA!”
Lal assumed duties as the acting chief technologist prior to the appointment of Charania, who began his work at NASA headquarters on January 3, 2023.
“The pace of technology advancement we seek to achieve in the 21st century depends on selecting and maturing a portfolio of technologies into systems to accomplish our missions,” noted Charania. “With that being said, there are tremendous opportunities in partnerships within and outside NASA. I look forward to working with the entire community to accelerate advancements in space and aviation!”
Before joining NASA, Charania was the vice president of product strategy at Reliable Robotics, a company working to deliver certified autonomous vehicles to commercial aviation. He also gained experience at Blue Origin developing its lunar permanence strategy, growing the Blue Moon lunar lander program and developing various technology projects with NASA.
Previously, in strategy and business development, he worked for Virgin Galactic (now Virgin Orbit) supporting the LauncherOne small satellite launch vehicle program. He served in various roles in management and technology at SpaceWorks Enterprises and supported the incubations of two start-ups, Generation Orbit and Terminal Velocity Aerospace.
Charania led the formation of the FastForward industry group focusing on high-speed point-to-point transportation, was a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Fellow, and served on the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group Commercial Advisory Board. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and his bachelor’s degree in economics from Emory University.
