NASA Pursuing Latin American Space Program

WASHINGTON -- NASA hosted government representatives from several 
Latin American countries in Washington 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.