apocalypse, planetary defense weapon
NASA/ Lynette Cook

NASA, the United States space agency is apparently all set to test its planetary defense weapon, named 'Double Asteroid Redirection Test', and it will take place in the next couple of years. Touted to be a major stepping stone for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, the weapon will be initially launched at the Didymos asteroid to deviate it from the original trajectory.

NASA's plans for launching this planetary defense weapon seemed very similar to the plot of Hollywood sci-fi flicks like Armageddon and Independence Day. As asteroids and various near-earth objects pose a threat to the existence of life on planet earth, NASA's mission could be an effective move to safeguard the blue planet from turning red.

It should be noted that even moderate-sized asteroids could turn earth to a barren land, and people will find it hard to obtain enough resources to lead their lives.

Even though NASA has been continuously monitoring near-earth objects, there are several events where asteroids zipped past the earth without human knowledge. A few days back, Dr Iain McDonald, a top scientist at Cardiff University had predicted that the earth will be hit by a doomsday asteroid one day or the other.

The scientist made these remarks while talking on the BBC's Today programme, and he made it clear that the possibility of such a devastating hit which had previously claimed the lives of dinosaurs could not be ruled out in the future.

As NASA is busy gearing up with the test of planetary defense weapon, a section of conspiracy theorists have started arguing that the space agency's move is to combat an imminent apocalypse. These theorists believe that rogue planet Nibiru is now in its collision course towards the earth, and NASA is trying to either nuke or deviate this space body using this weapon.

However, these doomsday mongers claim that no human-made weapons could prevent an apocalypse, as Nibiru, alias Planet X, is much larger than the earth.