Scientists Developing Directed Energy Laser Weapon Death Star to Destroy AsteroidsBy Piper McGowin A team at University of California is working on a planetary defense project theyve dubbed the De-Star Direct Energy System for Targeting Asteroids and exploRation (they apparently had to work really hard for the final R in that nickname there). Sounds like Ronald Reagans Star Wars program or just the movie Star Wars. The laser weapon would be used to protect planet Earth from rogue asteroids by vaporizing them. A smaller version would fly alongside asteroids and provide a last line of defense should the object make a run toward Earth. The only problem with the system is that the team would need a decent heads up to prevent disaster, and NASA recently proved to the world that two-story wide meteors could enter Earths atmosphere completely undetected by the agency, despite the fact that they have an entire program thats supposed to do just that. Related Reads: Piper writes for The Daily Sheeple. Theres a lot of B.S. out there. Someone has to write about it. 