Fact-check: Did China launch an 'artificial sun' into space?

Ciara O'Rourke, PolitiFact.com
·2 min read

Viral Instagram post: Video shows China launching an “artificial sun” into space.

PolitiFact's ruling: False

Here's why: A video that’s being shared on social media shows a crowd of people gathered on a beach and holding their phones in the air to record a glowing orb rising in the distance.

"Apparently China launched its ‘Artificial Sun’ into space," a Jan. 11 Instagram post sharing the video said. "This world is getting scary."

"Sooooo nobody’s talking about China making a fake sun," a Jan. 11 Facebook post said.

"Did China really create a fake sun?" another post asked.

These posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.

China does have something called an "artificial sun." It’s a nuclear fusion reactor — officially named the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak — that recently set a record for sustained high temperatures after running five times hotter than the sun for more than 17 minutes, according to the Independent, which cited state media in China. It’s one of three "artificial suns" being developed in China in hopes of providing "almost limitless clean energy," the story says — and they’re all indoors.

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The footage that is wrongly being characterized as showing China launching a fake sun appears to actually show a late December rocket launch from the Wenchang Space Launch Center.

An English translation of a Dec. 24 Weibo post from a similar vantage point on the beach says: "The rocket launch site, let us witness the great power of China’s aerospace."

We rate the claims that China launched an artificial sun into space False.

Sources

  • Facebook post, Jan. 11, 2022

  • Facebook post, Jan. 11, 2022

  • Instagram post, Jan. 11, 2022

  • Independent, CHINA SWITCHES ON ‘ARTIFICIAL SUN’ THAT IS FIVE TIMES HOTTER THAN THE REAL THING, Jan. 10, 2022

  • Smithsonian, China’s Artificial Sun Just Broke a Record for Longest Sustained Nuclear Fusion, Jan. 10, 2022

  • HoaxEye tweet, Jan. 10, 2022

  • NASA Space Flight, China launches pair of experimental satellites on Chang Zheng 7A, Dec. 23, 2022

  • Weibo post, Dec. 24, 2021

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Fact-check: Did China launch an 'artificial sun' into space?