Rhae Adams ’12 is working to make the solar system a little smaller, both through exploration of our neighboring worlds and by bringing the tools and technology of deep space exploration to industries here on Earth. He is the co-founder and standing VP of Strategy for Synchronous, a company focused on space commercialization with missions headed to the Moon, Mars, Europa, Titan and the Asteroid Belt, while solving problems in underground mining, autonomous vehicles and renewable energy.

Synchronous’s next launch will be NASA's $2 billon Mars 2020 Rover, for which Synchronous has been instrumental in assembly, testing and integration. Adams and his team are also working to better manage water at mining operations, implement safer object detection for self-driving vehicles and create a more reliable consumer product design.

Adams’ outstanding drive was showcased through a feature on Forbes 30 Under 30 for his work building the first economic models for space resource mining.