The company's AI ambitions might distract from NASA's moon mission ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
May 4, 2026—Will SpaceX's ambitions cost NASA the moon? Plus, a highly conductive new metal, and how to catch the Eta Aquarid meteor shower this week. Monday, let's go!
—Andrea Gawrylewski
Chief Newsletter Editor
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NASA’s X-59 supersonic research aircraft performs a bank-to-bank auto roll maneuver during a test flight over California’s Mojave desert. NASA / Lori Losey
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In April, SpaceX announced a deal to acquire Cursor, an AI-code-writing start-up company. Earlier this year, SpaceX purchased xAI, the start-up behind the chatbot Grok. Meanwhile, SpaceX is pushing ahead on plans to launch data centers in Earth orbit, while ramping up availability of its satellite-based Internet Starlink Mobile and acquiring more Pentagon contracts as part of the Golden Dome national missile defense program. Some are wondering if SpaceX’s attention is stretched too thin to deliver on its promise to get humans to the moon.
Why this matters: In 2020, NASA awarded SpaceX a $135 million contract to develop a Starship-based Human Landing System for the Artemis program’s moon landing, which was previously planned for 2024. That landing system would be tested during the Artemis IV mission this year and would also be used for the Artemis IV mission targeted for 2028. SpaceX has struggled with delays in the development of its massive Starship rocket—a necessary asset, not just for NASA’s Artemis program, but for the company’s space-based data center plans.
What the experts say: In fall of last year, NASA reopened the Artemis contract to competitors, perhaps in a sign of the space agency’s frustration over delays. NASA’s concerns about the company’s focus are legitimate, says Wendy Whitman Cobb, a professor of strategy and security studies at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies at Air University.
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Copper is one of the most conductive materials on Earth, able to pass heat between objects more efficiently than almost anything else. But in a study in Science, scientists created a metallic material called θ-phase tantalum nitride, which achieved a thermal conductivity of about 1,110 watts per meter-kelvin—about three times higher than copper's conductivity. This material breaks the record for heat transport in metals, and the finding could transform materials science.
Why this matters: The form of tantalum nitride the researchers tested had an atomic structure that lets packets of vibrational energy called phonons travel unusually long distances with minimal interference. Although there are other forms of tantalum nitride, this particular structure is super conductive. In the future, θ-phase tantalum nitride and other materials like it could be incorporated into thermal materials for electronics or data centers that rely on conduction to cool down their systems.
What the experts say: “Now that the record has been broken for heat conduction, it makes us rethink whether other assumed boundaries in materials physics could also be broken,” says study author Yongjie Hu, a physicist and engineer at the University of California, Los Angeles. —Emma Gometz, newsletter editor
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TRAVEL WITH SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
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Space Now Open for Icelandic Eclipse Adventure
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New availability! Grab your spot while they last and experience the 2026 solar eclipse in the Land of Ice and Fire on this trip of a lifetime led by Senior News Editor Andrea Thompson.
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Assuming that a match is one unit of length, it is possible to place 12 matches on a plane in various ways to form polygons with areas that have integral values. On this page are two such polygons: a square with an area of nine square units and a cross with an area of five square units. The problem is this: use all 12 matches to form, in similar fashion, the perimeter of a polygon with an area of exactly four square units. The entire length of each match must be used.
Click here for the solution.
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- For decades, a small group at the EPA has tested chemicals' toxicity. Now the Trump Administration says those tests can't be trusted, opening the door for companies to resist regulation. | ProPublica
- A lot of things have changed on Mount Everest since author Jon Krakauer wrote his book Into Thin Air (one of my favorites). | The Atlantic
- Brain scans reveal multiple types of ADHD. | The Washington Post
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Thank you to all readers who shared which birds they hope to spot during this spring migration. A couple of you are looking out for the cerulean warbler, which I must say is quite a looker. Our own birding expert, senior editor Kate Wong, alerted the staff this morning that some 373 million (!) birds are predicted to migrate over North America tonight, so the next few days may be the chance for cerulean warblers, vireos and flycatchers galore!
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Welcome to a new week of discovery. Email me with your feedback at: newsletters@sciam.com or take our survey below at any time. See you tomorrow!
—Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor
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