Science research in the US is shifting. This will have long-term effects on the economy. Federal research grants are being cancelled for political reasons, making long-term projects difficult to manage. The Defense Department’s assessment published this summer warns the Pentagon’s "innovation engine is at risk of stalling.” because of a decline in expert staff.

SpaceX is changing focus from space science to AI. SpaceX was started with the help of government funding.

AI is getting better at science research, and might take over the theory work, but the experiments still need to be completed for verification in the real world.

The only certainty is that science research is changing. AI is the elephant in the room, and so SpaceX's shift makes sense to me, although it is unclear that rocket scientists will be good data center designers. The US government research funding system needs to be better protected from the 4 year political cycle. The US Supreme Court has made this difficult by granting king-like powers to the President. Congress can pass a law, and the Supreme Court has ruled the President can ignore the law if it limits executive power.

Many US scientists are going to other countries with more stable funding. China is ahead of the US in some science research metrics. The era of US research leadership is being challenged.

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Elon Musk’s business empire is built on $38 billion in government funding
Government infusions at key moments helped Tesla and SpaceX flourish, boosting Musk’s wealth.
U.S. Congress: PDF document

SpaceX no longer needs NASA, and that’s a problem for America’s space agency
by Eric Berger – Oct 29, 2026
"SpaceX seems increasingly disinterested in the US government for most contracts outside of data services, such as Starshield for military communications and observations... For SpaceX and its shareholders, as shocking as it may seem for a US company to leave billions of dollars on the table in government contracts, this may be the right decision. SpaceX sees the vast bulk of its future revenue coming from artificial intelligence...

To be clear, SpaceX is still fulfilling its existing contracts with NASA, the US Space Force, and other government entities. And it continues to do so at a lower cost and generally higher level of reliability than pretty much anyone else.

But the company is no longer signing many large new contracts for spaceflight services, at least in the traditional launch and in-space flight domains. The shift comes after 15 years in which the US government has grown accustomed to lower costs and rapid innovation that has revitalized the nation’s access to space...

Musk believes the government moves too slowly and simply isn’t ambitious enough when it comes to space. Often, in meetings at SpaceX, he will describe working with the US government as “like wearing lead shoes and walking through molasses.” ...

“What we’ve done at SpaceX is we’ve taken a team that has been able to achieve a market share in mass to orbit that is almost 90 percent,” Musk said. That team, he added, “has been able to achieve results that are an order of magnitude greater than the rest of all competitors in space combined.” Now, he said, SpaceX was applying that same team to the deployment of terrestrial compute. They would not be sent to Starbase for Starship, in other words, but to places like Memphis, Tennessee."
arstechnica.com - Spacex no longer needs NASA and thats a problem for americas space agency

Data-backed review exposes urgent friction points threatening U.S. defense research enterprise
By Brandi Vincent, August 19, 2026
"The Pentagon’s new comprehensive report on the state of America’s defense research enterprise spotlights severe structural, logistical and bureaucratic vulnerabilities undermining the military’s technological edge...

DOD-wide, the reduction represented approximately 14 percent of the total STRL workforce, according to the review, which referred to “much of the loss” as “indiscriminate” and not shaped by lab directors.

“During the site visits that accompanied the data call, many organizations expressed deep concern for the future of their workforce, not only for the inability to hire, but the plethora of second- and third-order consequences,” officials wrote in the report, such as decreasing morale of employees at the labs who are working extra to support the missions, and a decline in expert staff.

They also warn that “without a swift and sustained reversal” of those workforce policies, the Pentagon’s “innovation engine is at risk of stalling, with potentially grave consequences for the future of national defense and the Warfighter.”"
defensescoop.com - Review exposes friction points threatening u s defense research enterprise

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Some quotes from today's New York Times article:

How Trump is dismantling America’s scientific research machine

The warning, buried in an obscure government report this summer, was unflinching. The Defense Department’s vaunted network of research laboratories -- whose scientists helped develop satellite communication, radar technology, and even the computer mouse -- was in trouble.

The US federal government is still spending roughly as much on research -- about $200 billion this year -- as the administrations that came before.

By many measures, China is closing the gap with the United States as the world’s research leader.

The roots of the United States’ science empire can be traced to a landmark 1945 report issued during the Truman administration, “Science: The Endless Frontier.”

The Defense Department’s assessment of science and research capabilities published this summer said “Without a swift and sustained reversal of these policies, [the Defense Department’s] innovation engine is at risk of stalling.”

By the time the full consequences of the administration’s actions become apparent, experts warn, it could be too late to fix. That’s because basic research funded by federal grants often takes decades to mature into the technology, medical treatments and consumer products that change American life.