A very interesting example of relatively lesser-known scientific innovations. It is a surprisingly rare knowledge. In fact, it is one of the evidences scientists use to refute the claim of the moon-landing deniers.<p>It is also worth mentioning that this project has now been axed (in 2009 to be precise) as the mirrors have gotten dusty and no longer provide the same worth of scientific data they used to [1]. The above post was written in 2004, long before such problems surfaced.<p>[1]: www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/21/mcdonald-observatory-space-laser-funding
This was mentioned in the article: "But Einstein, constantly tested, isn't out of the woods yet. Some physicists (Alley is one of them) believe his general theory of relativity is flawed. If there is a flaw, lunar laser ranging might yet find it."<p>Does anybody know what specific flaw(s) they're talking about?
What do they mean when they say the gravitational constant has changed less than 1 part in 100 billion? Surely that's within experimental error? I think they mean to say "there is no evidence that it has changed at all".