Steven A. Sinacore
Program Executive, Fission Surface Power
Steven A. Sinacore is NASA’s program executive for Fission Surface Power. He is responsible for managing the agency’s work to advance fission surface power development. This critical technology will support lunar exploration, provide high-power energy generation on Mars, and strengthen national security in space. The Fission Surface Power effort is within the Moon to Mars Program Office in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.
Most recently, Sinacore served as the director of Aeronautics at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. In this capacity, he was responsible for the project management, workforce planning, budget oversight, and executive leadership of Glenn’s aeronautics research and development activities in support of the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
Previously, he served as the deputy project manager of the Power and Propulsion Element for the agency’s Gateway lunar orbiting outpost. In this position, Sinacore shared responsibility for leading a cross-agency team of 140 personnel and managing a more than $1 billion development contract with Maxar Space Systems.
Prior to that, Sinacore managed studies of the environmental impacts of supersonic aircraft and was a critical leader on the reestablishment of NASA’s Hypersonic Technology Project under the Advanced Air Vehicles Program. This project significantly expanded Glenn’s research and technology demonstration activities in air-breathing hypersonic propulsion systems. Sinacore also served as the chief of the Advanced Aircraft Project Office at Glenn, where he successfully managed and led his team in performing cutting-edge aeronautics research.
After joining Glenn in 2005, Sinacore held several leadership and project management positions across the center and gained a breadth of knowledge in aeronautics, spaceflight systems, facilities, and research and engineering. He holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree in engineering from Case Western Reserve University.