Join Cool Science for Science on Tap every 2nd Monday of the month upstairs* at Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub & Restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs. Presenters begin at 6:30 pm and typically speak for 60-90 minutes including Q&A, with food and drink available beginning at 6:00 pm. A wide variety of fascinating topics are presented by local scientists for informal discussion, and the relaxed atmosphere encourages anyone and everyone to come explore the latest ideas in science and technology. From practical to theoretical, the presentations and group interactions provide a fun and interesting way to gain an understanding of the world around us.
* unfortunately there is no elevator
Join Cool Science for Science on Tap every 2nd Monday of the month upstairs* at Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub & Restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs. Presenters begin at 6:30 pm and typically speak for 60-90 minutes including Q&A, with food and drink available beginning at 6:00 pm. A wide variety of fascinating topics are presented by local scientists for informal discussion, and the relaxed atmosphere encourages anyone and everyone to come explore the latest ideas in science and technology. From practical to theoretical, the presentations and group interactions provide a fun and interesting way to gain an understanding of the world around us.
* unfortunately there is no elevator
Next up: Monday, May 11, 2026 at 6:30 pm.
A 450 kilometer View of Space Sustainability
Greg Vialle, CEO and founder of Lunexus Space Inc.
Summary: We're filling low Earth orbit with satellites faster than we can clean them up -- and our default plan for critical space materials is to ultimately disperse them over the Earths surface. This talk asks a simple question: what if we treated space junk as raw material instead of garbage? We can draw on basic economics and some uncomfortable math about orbital congestion to show that the next chapter of the space economy depends less on rocket power and more on learning to reuse what's already up there. Recycling is refining, not garbage collection, and it's the key to unlocking material wealth both on and beyond Earth. The International Space Station is an obvious place to start.
Greg Vialle is the CEO and founder of Lunexus Space Inc, a Denver based company with origins in the 2022 NASA Orbital Alchemy Challenge and subsequent National Science Foundation award for developing chemical reactor and particulate transport technologies for orbital processing. In addition to living the daily startup life at the center of the circular space economy, he has published papers in space traffic management and astroeconomics, participates in the AIAA Space Sustainability Task Force, and contributes to the COSMIC industry consortium. He holds degrees in mechanical engineering and materials science. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur Greg worked in aerospace for over 10 years in technical and management roles, and served in both Afghanistan and Iraq as an Army engineer officer overseeing projects spanning school architecture to software development. He is also the main author/instigator behind the petition to recycle the ISS.
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