Adam Barton helps space companies turn technical capabilities into commercial products that win. He brings product strategy, unfiltered operator research, and human-centered design to bear — because the discriminating capabilities that matter are never in the requirements. They're in the gaps only deep experience and situational judgment can find.
He spent over a decade building product at Google, Pinterest, and Reddit before bringing that foundation to space and defense. At Astra Space he led launch automation systems that reduced mission control operators from forty to two while keeping humans meaningfully in the loop. At Slingshot Aerospace he led product, design, and user research — building AI agents for space operations and tracking systems from LEO to cislunar space.
He runs several side projects: bayareaspace.org (Bay Area space ecosystem), Conscientias (academic research workbench) and 12o2.space (launch modeling). He advises several space and defense tech startups and angel invests via 12o2 LLC, backing early-stage founders building the infrastructure and decision layer of the space economy — space resources, space-based power and computing, and space domain awareness. He is a graduate student at the Colorado School of Mines focusing on how commercial space companies are influencing the development of the space economy and national security.
When he's not working he can be found playing with his kids, gardening with native California plants, or scanning the skies for birds. He lives in the East Bay with his wife, two kids, and a dog.