A viral claim suggesting that China has launched its own 'Artificial Sun' in the space is found to be untrue. The claim stemmed from the space rocket launches undertaken by the country in the past.
The videos of the 'artificial sun' being launched in the sky has been shared several times of multiple social media platforms, thus sparking the fake claim.
What Does the Video Show?
The 30-second video, shot by an onlooker, shows a ball of fire being launched from the ground. It then rapidly moves up in the sky as people cheer loudly. The video has been viewed over 2.7 million times on Twitter alone.
"#China Has Launched it's 0wN Artificial SuN T0daY. Welcome to #2022," wrote a user while sharing the video.
"Communist China Launches $1 Trillion nuclear fusion reactor Artificial Sun That Burns 5 Times Hotter Than The Sun WAKE UP PEOPLE," wrote another.
"China made an artificial sun, they tried and they succeeded. It worked for 70,000,000 degrees 17 minutes, if human beings want to do anything.!!!" read another tweet.
"China launches its artificial sun! should we be concerned?" expressed a user as another added, "If China can make an artificial sun, then they can find a cure for covid."
Here is the Truth
Debunking the claims made in the video, Snopes claimed that the China had not launched an artificial sun into space and the viral video shows an unrelated rocket launch that was miscaptioned.
The outlet claimed that the rocket launch took place at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan, China.
The fact-checking site further reported that the fake claim gained momentum as China had developed an 'artificial sun' which comprises of a nuclear fusion device.
"This project consists of a nuclear fusion device called 'HL-2M' tokamak that is capable of generating superheated plasma in excess of 125 million degrees Fahrenheit. However, this device has not been launched into space. It is located at the Southwestern Institute of Physics (SWIP), in the Sichuan Province of China," read the report.
