DeLaine Mayer
is passionate about the research and deployment of advanced technologies that can address the climate crisis on Earth while enabling sustainable, long-term human development off-Earth.
Today, DeLaine is focused on the global deployment of low-carbon energy solutions as a founding member and Director of External Affairs at Nebula Energy. She leads Nebula’s Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Hub development across Southeast Asia, Europe, and the U.S. Concurrently, she serves as Chief of Staff at Orion Digital Infrastructure, a power and cooling solutions developer for hyperscalers.
She developed and is teaching New York University’s first graduate course on Astropolitics: the Politics, Policies, and Technologies of Outer Space. Click here to learn more about Astropolitik.
Space offers perspective, not just altitude
In the harsh environment of outer space, humanity has achieved the extraordinary: overcoming extreme conditions through ingenuity, scientific rigor, and perseverance. From this vantage point, we’ve gained profound insights into Earth’s fragility and interconnected systems.
Photographed in 1968 from lunar orbit by Astronaut William Anders on Apollo 8, Earthrise was a turning point in our understanding of our place in the universe. For the first time, we saw Earth not as a map of borders, but as a single, fragile world suspended in darkness. This image sparked the modern environmental movement and revealed the urgency of protecting our interconnected ecosystems.
As we face the climate crisis, we must channel the conviction that fueled the Moonshot of the 1960s. Landing on the moon was technically complex, financially costly, and unprecedented — yet we succeeded. Today’s mission — achieving a global net-zero energy future — requires that same spirit of imagination and resolve. But unlike the Moonshot, this mission must be inclusive. Climate solutions must center those too often left out: women, people of color, Indigenous communities, and LGBTIQ+ individuals. Tackling planetary-scale challenges requires every voice, especially in STEM and other historically exclusive fields. Only by expanding who gets to build the future can we truly sustain life — on Earth and beyond.
Where we come from informs where we go. Earthrise reminds us that space exploration isn’t just about reaching farther — it’s about looking inward. To understand our future, we must first understand our home.
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Previous and Current Work
DeLaine’s career has centered on advancing frontier technologies that address critical global challenges. She has contributed to the development of multi-million-dollar distributed energy projects in the United States, Mexico, and Jamaica, and played a key role in the emerging polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) industry, helping to deploy bioplastics technology and enable more sustainable supply chains.
Today, DeLaine is focused on innovative solutions in power generation and cooling for new data center development and carbon capture and sequestration for industrial decarbonization.
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Selected Recognition
Winner of NASA iTech’s Cycle 1 Forum, contributor to West Point’s Modern War Institute and Supercluster, and past speaker at the Women’s Leadership Center in Lake Geneva.
Check out her recent published work here.
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Education and Areas of Expertise
DeLaine holds an M.S. with distinction in Global Affairs from New York University (2018), where she specialized in Energy and Environmental Policy, and an M.S. in Space Resources from the Colorado School of Mines (2023), focusing on astropolitics, technology management, and space resource utilization.
She brings over a decade of experience in business development and project management for frontier technologies spanning energy, climate, and space.
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Active Projects
Nebula Energy – Advancing LCO₂ transport solutions to scale global CCS hubs.
Orion Digital Infrastructure – Powering and cooling hyperscale data center campuses with modular, low-carbon systems.
NYU – Teaching Astropolitik, the geopolitics of space and sustainability, at the graduate level.
Mentorship – Guiding undergraduates in climate and space, with a focus on inclusive leadership.
Advisory – Supporting early-stage ventures on commercialization, policy, and narrative strategy.
