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Aquarius Scientist Receives International Award
[17-Jan-17] Gary Lagerloef, principal investigator of NASA's Aquarius mission to study the salinity of the ocean surface, has received Argentina's International Cooperation Award in Science, Technology and Innovation. The award, presented by the nation's Ministry of Science, recognizes non-Argentinians who have contributed significantly to increasing Argentina's international collaborations in the fields of science and technology.

The award ceremony took place last month in Buenos Aires.

Lagerloef, of Earth and Space Research, Seattle, played a key role in implementing the collaboration between NASA and the Argentine space agency, Comisión Nacionale de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE). That collaboration culminated in the launch of Aquarius on the Argentine SAC-D spacecraft in 2011. Aquarius was a pathfinder mission to demonstrate that the salinity of the ocean surface could be measured from space. Aquarius successfully completed its three-year prime mission in 2014, and operated in extended mission mode until the SAC-D spacecraft ceased operations in 2015.

"Many of the achievements of this endeavor are due to Dr. Lagerloef's recognition of the scientific and technological capacity of institutions and colleagues in Argentina," according to the official citation from CONAE. "The stimulus and active participation of Dr. Lagerloef were key to promoting an unprecedented binational collaboration in the field of marine research."

For more information on Aquarius, see: https://aquarius.nasa.gov.

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.