Shalom All:

Gravity May Lose Its Pull
http://www.latimes.com/la-sci-pioneer21dec21.story
http://www.latimes.com/la-sci-pioneer21dec21,0,137938,print.story

---clips---
It was in 1980 that John Anderson first wondered if something funny was going
on with gravity.

So what would be the implications?

 One possibility is that invisible, so-called dark matter is holding the
spacecraft back. Some cosmologists believe that dark matter exists because
only 10% of the expected mass of the universe has been found. If 90% of the
universe's mass and energy is invisible, maybe it could exert gravitational
pull on spacecraft.

 Another possibility, even more fanciful, is that invisible dimensions of
space are tugging at the Pioneers. This idea has its origin in string theory,
an idea that suggests we are surrounded by far more than the three dimensions
we know about. Some versions of string theory suggest there may be as many as
11 dimensions, most of which are curled up and hidden from us.
This year alone, he has been to Europe four times. In October, the team was
excited to learn that the European Space Agency's Fundamental Physics
Advisory Group had recommended an ESA mission to study the anomaly. That was
the good news. The not-so-good news was that the launch wouldn't happen
before 2015, and the answer to the anomaly might not come back for decades
more.
---end clips---

Dianne
<*}}}><
http://home.centurytel.net/grafted-promise/endtimeline.html