Fueling Spaceships, Building Better Sensors And Discovering New Planets

These researchers, engineers and entrepreneurs aren’t just making discoveries–they’re inventing new solutions to old problems.

_{By Alex Knapp and Katharine Gammon}

“We really want to create permanent jobs in space,” says Jeremy Schiel. “And the only way you can really grow any economy is by having a cheap energy source.”

That’s where the company that Schiel cofounded, OrbitFab, comes in. It’s developed what can best be described as a gas station in space, capable of sitting in different orbits and refueling satellites and other spacecraft so that they can remain operational for longer. It already has one operational fuel depot in orbit and has millions in government contracts to further refine the technology. But Schiel, 28, is just one of the members of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Science innovating in a variety of fields.

For more than a decade, Forbes has highlighted young scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs for our annual 30 Under 30 Science list, with the help of nominations from the public. To be considered for this year’s list, all candidates had to be under the age of 30 as of December 31, 2022, and never before named to a 30 Under 30 list. Candidates were evaluated by a panel of judges featuring Celine Halioua, CEO & founder of Loyal and an alumna of the 2022 Under 30 list; Ann Miura-Ko, Cofoundering Partner of venture firm Floodgate; Dario Gil, Director of IBM Research; and Lori Garver, former deputy administrator of NASA.

Schiel isn’t the only listmaker working in the stars. Shannah Withrow-Maser, 28, an aerospace engineer at the NASA Ames Research center, helped engineer Ingenuity, the first drone to ever be flown on the Marian surface. Then there’s Malena Rice, 26, an astronomer who’s been using machine learning algorithms to find new astronomical bodies – and possibly even planets – in the furthest reaches of our own solar system.

Speaking of machine learning, Daniel Schwalbe-Koda, 29, is using supercomputing simulation to speed up the process of developing new types of chemicals, like materials that can remove pollutants from diesel engines. Then there’s Quansan Yang, 28, who’s developing microchips that are biodegradable both in the environment as well as in human bodies to eliminate electronic waste. Speaking of new types of materials, Youhong Guo, 29, has developed polymer materials that can quickly purify water, which could be invaluable for regions where building large water reclamation infrastructure may not be feasible.

Speaking of purifying water, Margaret Lumley’s company, ChloBis Water, has developed a way to desalinate water in a way that also generates electricity and uses the extracted salts as a feedstock for chemical manufacturing. Two more entrepreneurs on this year’s list are the brother-sister team Danielle and Matthew Rose, whose company Ceragen is developing probiotics that can be used to increase hydroponic agricultural yields.

These are only a few of the incredible finalists on this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Science list. Be sure to read up on all of them, plus all of the other 30 Under 30 2023 categories.

This year’s list was edited by Alex Knapp and Katharine Gammon. For a link to our complete Under 30 Science list, click here, and for full 30 Under 30 coverage, click here.