NASA Hosts Symposium About Latin American Space Partnerships

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.

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

For information about international cooperation at NASA, visit:

http://oiir.hq.nasa.gov

For information about NASA and USAID's satellite system, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/servir

Source: NASA