Overview
- NASA told Complex that Earth will not lose gravity on Aug. 12, 2026, explaining gravity depends on the planet’s mass and the eclipse that day has no unusual effect.
- The rumor centers on social posts invoking a supposed leaked NASA plan called 'Project Anchor' with an $89 billion budget, a 7.3‑second anomaly, and tens of millions of deaths, none of which is verified.
- Lifehacker cites theoretical cosmologist Joel Meyers, who says gravity cannot be switched off and that in a seven‑second weightless scenario most people would drift only a couple of feet, not 15–20 meters.
- IFLScience notes the proposed trigger—intersecting black‑hole gravitational waves—is scientifically implausible, gravitational waves are extremely weak, and they are observed by LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA, not predicted by NASA.
- Experts add that a few seconds would not strip Earth’s atmosphere, and while speculative tectonic effects are hard to model, the scenario itself is described as far outside the realm of possibility.