No, Earth Received’t Lose Gravity for 7 Seconds on August 12, NASA Says

In current weeks, a rumor claiming that Earth would “lose gravity” for 7 seconds on August 12, 2026, has whipped up a web-based frenzy. Social media customers warned the disaster would kill tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals and even claimed—maybe much more disturbingly—that NASA is aware of that is coming and is intentionally staying silent.

These wild claims stemmed from a reel posted by Instagram person @mr_danya_of on December 31, 2025, whose account grew to become unavailable simply days later. The video showed a person sitting in a automobile, not talking, whereas overlaid textual content read: “In November 2024, a secret NASA doc titled “Challenge Anchor” leaked on-line. The venture’s funds is $89 billion, and its aim is to outlive a 7-second gravitational anomaly anticipated on August 12, 2026, at 14:33 UTC [10:33 a.m. ET].”

The textual content went on to say that the anomaly would outcome from the intersection of two gravitational waves from black holes, predicted by NASA in 2019 with a likelihood of 94.7%. It additionally claimed the company is “constructing underground bunkers” to offer refuge for presidency leaders, scientists, navy personnel, and “chosen residents with genetic range” through the occasion.

In fact, that is all utterly bogus. Neither Gizmodo nor Snopes, a fact-checking and investigative reporting web site, found any proof to assist the existence of Challenge Anchor or the paperwork that had supposedly been leaked on-line. When Snopes contacted NASA in regards to the rumor, a spokesperson mentioned precisely what we’re all considering: That’s not how gravity works.

A gravity primer for web conspiracy theorists

Of their response, the NASA spokesperson astutely identified that Earth’s gravity is set by its mass. “The one approach for the Earth to lose gravity could be for the Earth system, the mixed mass of its core, mantle, crust, ocean, terrestrial water, and environment, to lose mass,” they wrote, in keeping with Snopes.

Einstein’s concept of common relativity describes gravity not as a pressure, as Newton did, however because the curvature of spacetime. Huge objects equivalent to planets warp the material of spacetime round them, and less-massive objects transfer alongside the curved paths this distortion creates, experiencing it as gravity.

Think about putting a bowling ball (Earth) onto an outstretched rubber sheet (spacetime). The bowling ball would stretch the rubber and sink, making a melancholy. Now, think about putting a ping pong ball (a much less large object) on the fringe of the sheet. It will roll down towards the bowling ball as a result of it should journey alongside a floor deformed by the presence of an object with larger mass.

Normal relativity is likely one of the most rigorously tested theories in science and stays our greatest clarification for the way gravity works. There is no such thing as a proof to counsel that the intersection of two gravitational waves from black holes would trigger Earth to lose mass and subsequently gravity, however even when there was, this “predicted” gravitational wave crossover is solely fictitious.

No black gap disaster, simply an eclipse

Neither Snopes nor Gizmodo might discover any proof to assist the declare that NASA had predicted that two gravitational waves from black holes would intersect on August 12. Nevertheless, the company’s web site does state {that a} photo voltaic eclipse will happen on that date.

“A complete photo voltaic eclipse has no uncommon impression on Earth’s gravity,” the NASA spokesperson reportedly advised Snopes. “The gravitational attraction of the Solar and Moon on the Earth, which doesn’t impression Earth’s whole gravity, however does impression tidal forces, is effectively understood and is predictable a long time upfront.”

In accordance with NASA, totality will likely be seen from Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia, and a small a part of Portugal, whereas a lot of Europe, Africa, and North America will expertise a partial eclipse. So whereas there’s no want to organize for a world cataclysm, August 12 continues to be price marking in your calendar if you happen to don’t need to miss a wide ranging celestial occasion.