Stephan Ord

Stephan Ord is currently the Chief Technologist for the Flight Opportunities Program. Prior to this, Stephan was the Project Manager for the Edison Demonstration of SmallSat Networks Project, (EDSN) – where he led the team in development of a CubeSat network mission. He served as Project Manager for the Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae Project, (OMEGA), exploring the possibilities of growing algae in a unique environment for biofuel use. Stephan was the Deputy Systems Engineer on the Flagship Technology Demonstration Mission, (FTD-1), where an ion-propulsion space tug concept was explored. He was the Project Controls Manager for the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite Project, (LCROSS), which found evidence of water ice on the Earth’s moon. He has been with NASA for 36 years. In that time he has also held positions as a Deputy Branch Chief, Engineering Group Leader, Systems Engineer and Facility Engineer in the low and high-speed wind tunnel test facilities. He began his career at Ames as a student engineer in the Vertical Motion Simulator Facility where aircraft, spacecraft, and rotorcraft are tested in a full-motion simulation environment.

Steve has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from SJSU and a Masters Certificate in Space Systems Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.