Our Shared Journey through the Cosmos

Kevin Coggins

Deputy Associate Administrator for the NASA SCaN program

Asaf Charania

Agency chief technologist

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NASA’s Space Communication and Navigation program, or SCaN, serves as the program office for all of NASA’s space communications operations. Over 100 NASA and non-NASA missions rely on SCaN’s two networks, the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network, to monitor Earth’s weather and effects of climate changes, support lunar exploration, uncover the solar system and beyond, and peer back in time to understand the origins of the universe. Reliable space communication and navigation systems are critical to every NASA mission. Spacecraft commands, never-before-seen images, and scientific data are sent and received daily by NASA’s giant antennas on Earth. From the Voyager mission exploring beyond our solar system, to astronauts onboard the International Space Station, space communications provide the crucial connection to our home planet

Kevin Coggins

Deputy Associate Administrator for the NASA SCaN program. He is responsible for the development, acquisition, and management of reliable and cost-effective communications and navigation services to meet NASA and other Government Agency requirements for human and robotic space exploration programs in Earth, Lunar, Mars, and Deep Space. Kevin has served in senior executive roles in industry and the government, including as the Army’s first director of the Assured PNT Cross-Function Team and Direct Reporting Program Manager for PNT. Kevin’s industry experience ranges from senior executive roles at Booz Allen Hamilton, engineering roles across the aerospace and defense industry, and founder of a technology startup. Kevin is a native of Pensacola, Florida, and is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps where he served as a Force Reconnaissance Team Leader. He has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida, is a Senior Member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a Strategic Advisor to the Space ISAC, and has studied at the Naval Postgraduate School, Defense Acquisition University, and Darden School of Business.

A.C. Charania

Serves as principal advisor to NASA’s administrator on technology policy and programs. He leads technology innovation at the agency and aligns NASA’s agencywide technology investments with mission needs across its six mission directorates. Charania also oversees technology collaboration with other federal agencies and the private sector while coordinating with external stakeholders. Charania works within NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS). He succeeds former OTPS Associate Administrator Bhavya Lal, who had been serving as acting agency chief technologist. Charania is an experienced leader in entrepreneurial space and aviation ventures. His private sector work includes projects under contract for NASA, the Air Force, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). His experience spans multiple areas including launch vehicles, hypersonics, human/robotic exploration, lunar landers, planetary defense, small satellites, and aviation autonomy. Before joining NASA, he served as vice president of product strategy at Reliable Robotics, a firm working to bring certified autonomous vehicles to commercial aviation. Charania led overall corporate strategy for the company, including working to mature product fit, leading/conducting market and competitive assessments, and engaging with global customers and partners. He also led program management for their Department of Defense autonomy projects. Prior to Reliable Robotics, Charania worked on advanced development programs at Blue Origin. He helped define their lunar permanence strategy, created and advanced the Blue Moon lunar lander strategy, and engaged with customers and technical partners. He also moved multiple technology projects forward, including many with NASA. Charania previously worked as a strategy and business development leader for the Virgin Galactic (now Virgin Orbit) LauncherOne small satellite launch vehicle program. While there, he advocated for using a 747-400 aircraft to air-launch a rocket carrying payloads to space and then captured a contract for several dozen launches. Before Virgin Orbit, he held multiple roles at SpaceWorks Enterprises, including strategic thinker and technical analyst in the areas of space transportation and infrastructure design, aerospace economic/financial modeling, and general far-term technology impact assessment and prioritization. While at SpaceWorks, he was also heavily involved in incubating the two startups of Generation Orbit and Terminal Velocity Aerospace. Charania led the formation of the FastForward industry group focused on high-speed, point-to-point transportation. He was also a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) fellow and was on the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group Commercial Advisory Board. He received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s in economics from Emory University.

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