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NASA has officially dismissed a conspiracy theory claiming the space agency is hiding a catastrophic event that could kill millions.

The rumor began circulating after a supposed “leaked” document from November 2024 claimed a secret project called “Project Anchor” was preparing Earth for disaster. Conspiracy supporters said that on August 12 at 14:33 GMT (9:33 ET) the planet would lose gravity for seven seconds, triggering massive destruction and killing around 40 million people.

One user on X argued: “If it’s fake, why does it have a date, project name, and budget?”

But the whole story was quickly exposed as another online hoax. There is no trace of the alleged leaked document, and “Project Anchor” does not exist. NASA experts also stressed that the theory shows a basic misunderstanding of how gravity works.

The viral posts started with an Instagram account called @mr_danya_of, claiming NASA had allocated $89 million for Project Anchor and warning: “On August 12, 2026, the world will lose gravity for seven seconds. NASA knows. They’re preparing, but won’t say why.”

The post described an apocalyptic scenario: infrastructure collapse, economic disaster, mass panic, and 40 million deaths from falls.

According to the conspiracy, the “loss of gravity” would be caused by intersecting gravitational waves produced by colliding black holes. Some even claimed a total solar eclipse would occur over the Arctic Ocean at the same time.

But fact-checkers were swift. NASA told Snopes directly that: “Earth will not lose gravity on August 12, 2026.”

Experts explained that Earth’s gravity is determined by its mass. To lose gravity, the planet would have to lose mass — meaning part of its core, mantle, crust, oceans, or atmosphere would have to disappear. That simply cannot happen due to gravitational waves.

Professor William Alston, a black hole expert at the University of Hertfordshire, told the Daily Mail that black hole collisions create waves so weak they require ultra-sensitive instruments to detect — and they are not strong enough to affect Earth in any noticeable way.

“These waves pass through Earth and us, slightly stretching and compressing us, but the changes are tiny — thousands of times smaller than an atom.”

So, Project Anchor is just another viral hoax, and Earth’s gravity remains unchanged.

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