NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will travel to India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a series of meetings beginning Monday, November 27, with key government officials.
Nelson also will meet with space officials in both countries to deepen bilateral cooperation across a broad range of innovation and research-related areas, especially in human exploration and Earth science, read a statement issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The visit to India fulfills a commitment through the United States and India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, spearheaded by POTUS Joe Biden. Nelson will visit several locations in India, including the Bengaluru-based facilities where the NISAR spacecraft, a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is undergoing testing and integration for launch in 2024.
NISAR is short for NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar.
As the first satellite mission between NASA and ISRO, NISAR is a revolutionary Earth-observing instrument, the first in the Earth System Observatory, that will measure Earth’s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces, and ice masses providing information about biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise, and groundwater, key information to guide efforts related to climate change, hazard mitigation, agriculture, and more.
While in the UAE, Nelson will participate in the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, highlighting NASA’s role as a global leader in providing decision makers with critical Earth-science data. It will be the first time a NASA administrator will have attended the conference.
Students in each country also will have the opportunity to meet with Nelson to discuss science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and their roles as members of the Artemis Generation.