The heads of U.S. and UK command chiefs have raised fears that China is planning to mine the moon for minerals. How does China plan to do it? Molly Gambhir tells you more.

Gravitas: Is China planning to drill the Moon?

Who doesn’t love conspiracy theories? UFOs, Area 51 and so many more theories exist to fascinate and entertain us. But sometimes the truth can be even more fascinating than these theories.

How would you react if we told you that the United States spent thousands, nay millions of taxpayers' money on cooking up a plan to nuke the Moon?

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/why-do-we-love-conspiracy-theories-so-much-471184">Conspiracy Theories. Why do we love them so much?</a>

We kid you not. As per a report in Vice.com, the US government’s now-defunct Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) spent millions on this bizarre research and more. Evidently, the research never came to fruition, the Moon is still there as flawed or unflawed as ever.

Reportedly the AATIP even got inspired by everyone’s favourite Harry Potter series and tried to experiment with invisibility cloaks. Other experiments include anti-gravity devices, wormholes through which you can travel and more.

The documents obtained by Vice.com include nearly 1,600 pages of reports, proposals, contracts etc.&nbsp;

Watch | Why do we love conspiracy theories so much?

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/why-do-we-love-conspiracy-theories-so-much-471184/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Interestingly, the AATIP which was a secret department of the Department of Defense program functioned only for five years, from 2007 to 2012, and became public knowledge because of the New York Times in 2017, when the programme’s former director Luis Elizondo resigned from the Pentagon.

As per the 2017 report $22 million were spent on this programme, and thanks to it the AATIP name became synonymous with UFOs.

However, the newly uncovered documents suggest that the agency was more than just about UFOs.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/in-us-gun-violence-kills-more-children-than-vehicular-accidents-causes-109-deaths-everyday-473362" hreflang="en">In US, gun violence kills more children than vehicular accidents, causes 109 deaths everyday</a>

The nuking Moon experiment has a pretty weird, outlandish theory behind it.

Authors of research on "negative mass propulsion" propose a proposal to search the Moon's core for incredibly lightweight metals that are "100,000 times lighter than steel", yet nevertheless have the strength of steel. The authors propose creating a tunnel through the lunar crust and mantle with thermonuclear explosives to reach the Moon's core.

Whether the US still plans to drill into the Moon or not remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, it feels like we’re inside a sci-fi novel, but instead of ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’, it’s ‘Thousands of leagues through the Moon’.

Who doesn’t love conspiracy theories? UFOs, Area 51 and so many more theories exist to fascinate and entertain us. But sometimes the truth can be even more fascinating than these theories.

Who doesn’t love conspiracy theories? UFOs, Area 51 and so many more theories exist to fascinate and entertain us. But sometimes the truth can be even more fascinating than these theories. How would you react if we told you that the United States spent thousands, nay millions of taxpayers' money on cooking up a plan to nuke the Moon? Also read | Conspiracy Theories. Why do we love them so much? We kid you not. As per a report in Vice.com, the US government’s now-defunct Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) spent millions on this bizarre research and more. Evidently, the research never came to fruition, the Moon is still there as flawed or unflawed as ever. Reportedly the AATIP even got inspired by everyone’s favourite Harry Potter series and tried to experiment with invisibility cloaks. Other experiments include anti-gravity devices, wormholes through which you can travel and more. The documents obtained by Vice.com include nearly 1,600 pages of reports, proposals, contracts etc. Watch | Why do we love conspiracy theories so much? Interestingly, the AATIP which was a secret department of the Department of Defense program functioned only for five years, from 2007 to 2012, and became public knowledge because of the New York Times in 2017, when the programme’s former director Luis Elizondo resigned from the Pentagon. As per the 2017 report $22 million were spent on this programme, and thanks to it the AATIP name became synonymous with UFOs. However, the newly uncovered documents suggest that the agency was more than just about UFOs. Also read | In US, gun violence kills more children than vehicular accidents, causes 109 deaths everyday The nuking Moon experiment has a pretty weird, outlandish theory behind it. Authors of research on "negative mass propulsion" propose a proposal to search the Moon's core for incredibly lightweight metals that are "100,000 times lighter than steel", yet nevertheless have the strength of steel. The authors propose creating a tunnel through the lunar crust and mantle with thermonuclear explosives to reach the Moon's core. Whether the US still plans to drill into the Moon or not remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, it feels like we’re inside a sci-fi novel, but instead of ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’, it’s ‘Thousands of leagues through the Moon’.

Documents reveals US government's plan to nuke the Moon. Here's why

drilling-moon

Drilling Moon, News on Drilling Moon, stories on Drilling Moon, articles on Drilling Moon, Drilling Moon stories at Wion, Drilling Moon news, Drilling Moon latest news

drilling moon

Gravitas: Is China planning to drill the Moon?

Documents reveals US government's plan to nuke the Moon. Here's why