NASA Hosts Symposium About Latin American Space Partnerships

John Yembrick

Headquarters, Washington     

WASHINGTON -- NASA hosted government representatives from several Latin American countries in Washington on Thursday to share information about the agency's work in that region and discuss potential future partnerships.

The event highlighted potential opportunities for cooperation with NASA in Earth science, space and International Space Station research, applications and education initiatives.

The participants discussed some of NASA's ongoing work in Latin America, including the NASA and U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Regional Visualization and Monitoring System. The satellite system provides information from Earth observations to help local decision makers respond to natural disasters, and environmental threats, such as air pollution and fires.

"Our future in space is of global interest," said Michael O'Brien, NASA's associate administrator for International and Interagency Relations. "NASA has a long history of cooperation in Latin America, and our agency stands ready to continue that cooperation with interested partners in the region. This symposium was an excellent opportunity to continue our dialogue on areas of mutual interest with an eye toward future cooperation."

Symposium attendees also discussed how to access data from NASA's many space-based resources and how to pursue new partnerships with agency-sponsored researchers. NASA has more than 30 agreements with 20 Latin American countries covering Earth and space science, research on the space station, new uses for groundbreaking technology and education.