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October 12, 2008 3:21:59 PM CDT

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Laws of Physics May Need an Overhaul

Posted Mar 14, 08 6:04 PM CDT in Science & Health 

(Newser) – The laws of physics just might be broken. Scientists have detected gravity-defying behavior from spacecrafts flung around the Earth, the Economist reports. Five different spacecrafts picked up speed at a pace deviating,ever so slightly, from the laws created by Newton and Einstein. After laborious calculations, astronomers have created a formula to predict the phenomenon. If it holds up, it means that our laws of gravity need major revision.

The cause of such strange behavior, first noted by a Pasadena lab during the 1990 Galileo mission to Jupiter, remains a mystery. It's possible that something within the current laws can explain it, but John Anderson and his Jet Propulsion Lab colleagues have carefully ruled out conventional explanations and errors such as computer bugs.  

Source Economist

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An astronomer speaks at a press Conference At The Jet Propulsion Lab In Pasadena, where gravity-defying behavior was first noted in the 1980s by John Anderson.   (Getty Images)
The European Union commissioner for transport gestures in front of an image of the Galileo satellite. When it was projected in 1990, Galileo picked up abnormal speed unpredicted by Einstein's formula.   (Getty Images)
Mars rovers await deployment at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where scientists are trying to uncover the reasons why some spacecrafts are defying Einstein's gravity laws.   (Getty Images)
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science  • astronomy  • spacecraft  • Albert Einstein  • Galileo  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory  • gravity


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