At a glance
- The light source rising in the video is not China's "artificial sun", but a rocket launched at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Hainan.
- An "artificial sun" is a nuclear fusion reactor that provides energy by mimicking the process of nuclear fusion inside the sun, rather than "lifting off" like a rocket.
- On the evening of December 30 last year, the all-superconducting tokamak nuclear fusion experimental device developed by the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Hefei Academy of Physical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences broke the world's record for high-temperature plasma operation time of the tokamak device in 1056 seconds.
Event background
Recently, a 24-second video was circulated on the extranet, which was said to be the launch site of China's "artificial sun".
In the video, a bright and dazzling orange light source rises rapidly from the horizon, the dark sky is suddenly illuminated, and there are people waving flags in the distance. People on the beach picked up their phones to record this magnificent scene.
As of Jan. 11, the video had received more than 20,000 likes and retweets.
Mingcha
What is the light source in the video?
Using the InVid analysis tool, the video was keyframe extracted, and after the image was searched, it was found that the video had been spread to different platforms many times. The same video on multiple YouTubes shows that the video originated from a user with the ID named "Snack_lifeline" on SnapVideo, an overseas short video platform owned by Kuaishou. These same video captions are all "China made their own sun."
Although the voice is not very clear, but click on the video to identify carefully, you can still hear someone with Chinese issued the following exclamation: "Quick, ignited, ignited... The rocket was launched, the launch was launched... Sound can be heard..." Combining this information, it can be concluded that the giant light source similar to the sun in the video is not the so-called "artificial sun", but a rocket.
As we all know, China currently has four major satellite launch bases, which are located in Jiuquan, Gansu, Xichang, Sichuan, Taiyuan, Shanxi, and Wenchang, Hainan. Among them, Hainan Wenchang Satellite Launch Center is the only coastal launch base, which is most in line with the surrounding environmental characteristics in the video.
On Weibo, WeChat video number, Bilibili and other platforms to watch the keyword "Wenchang rocket launch" search, compared with the multiple rocket launch videos uploaded by netizens. Among them, several videos of the launch moment of the Long March 7A Yaosan carrier rocket (referred to as the "Changqi A rocket") uploaded on December 23 last year are most similar to the videos spread on Twitter - the weather conditions, cloud thickness, crowd shouts and other elements in the video are very similar to the online video.
To verify, take a video keyframe and use Photoshop software to adjust the size and transparency of the two images. After comparison, it was found that the shape of the gas ejected from below the rocket when it was launched could fit perfectly. Therefore, the light source in the network video is most likely the Long Seven A rocket launched on December 23 last year.
Using PS software to overlay the plot, it was found that the gas parts of the two figures can be completely coincident
According to the news center of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, at 12 o'clock on December 23, the ChangqiA rocket developed by the Rocket Academy was ignited and launched at the Wenchang Cosmodrome, and a double satellite was successfully launched. Wei Yuanming, chief designer of the Changqi A carrier rocket, introduced that in general, a multi-satellite launch mission is a main satellite with a satellite launch, and this mission is the first time that a new generation of carrier rockets challenges the launch of a double main satellite with one arrow. The Total Length Seven A Yaosan Rocket is 60.7 meters long, which is 0.6 meters higher than the Yao-2 rocket launched at the beginning of the year, and it is the highest rocket currently flying in China. According to reports, this launch is also the 402nd launch of the Long March series of carrier rockets.
Artificial sun, or rocket?
This is not the first time that rockets have been mistaken for "artificial suns." On September 16 last year, a TikTok user uploaded a similar video, saying that it was "the moment when China launched the artificial sun" and that "night turned into daytime." The video was subsequently uploaded to multiple social platforms, including Facebook.
The people in the video speak with a distinctly American English accent and don't have any Chinese conversation.
By taking keyframes in the video and performing image reverse search, it can be found that as early as April 26 last year, some Twitter users uploaded the same video clip @MAstronomers, and called it the moment when the Us Space Exploration Technology Corporation (SpaceX) launched the rocket.
Netizen tweeted: "The brightness of the launch of Space Exploration Technology looks like a new sun has risen"
Space Exploration Technologies was funded by Elon Musk and was founded in June 2002. According to CBS News, on April 23 last year, Space Exploration Technology launched the Falcon 9 rocket, sending four astronauts into space.
Screenshot of CBS report headline: "Space Exploration Technologies sends 4 astronauts to the space station via crewed craft Crew Dragon"
Fact-checking agency checkyourfact.com noted that the sound played by the speakers in the webcast video was strikingly similar to that of the mission-controlling announcers on NASA's YouTube live broadcast.
What is the progress of the development of "artificial sun"?
The confusion between netizens about the "artificial sun" and the rocket is actually due to the misunderstanding of the function and form of the "artificial sun" device. Under the overwhelming rendering, the "artificial sun" is understood as a heat source and light source that can be lifted off like a real sun, but it is actually a nuclear fusion reaction experimental device that is placed on the ground, the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). EAST has a nuclear fusion reaction mechanism similar to the sun, using hydrogen and tritium as fuel, which can release huge energy, so it has been given the nickname of "artificial sun".
According to Xinhua News Agency, on the evening of December 30 last year, east developed by the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences achieved a long pulse of 1056 seconds of high-parameter plasma operation, creating the longest time record for the longest time of high-temperature plasma operation of tokamak devices in the world. This is the source of the description of "Chinese made the sun to break the world record" in the online tweet.
Last May, EAST ran for 101 seconds at 120 million degrees Celsius, a record that extended the running time at extreme heat by a factor of five. Xinhua news agency reported that the two main challenges facing the current EAST experiment are to maintain temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius and ensure its stable operation for a long time.
EAST is the world's first all-superconducting nuclear fusion experimental device independently designed and manufactured by China, and passed the national acceptance in March 2003. It is also one of the three major tokamak devices currently in operation in China, and the other two tokamak devices are located in Chengdu and Wuhan respectively. In December 2020, the Chengdu-based HL-2M operated for up to 10 seconds in extreme heat conditions of 150 million degrees Celsius.
According to the South China Morning Post, China is one of the 35 countries involved in the large-scale project of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). In addition to China, the United States, Russia, South Korea and European countries are also developing an "artificial sun".
According to multiple media reports, in November 2021, South Korea's "artificial sun", the Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) operated for 30 seconds in a high temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius.
In summary, the rising light source in the online video is not China's "artificial sun", but a rocket launched by the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Hainan, and it is likely to be the Long March 7 A Yaosan carrier rocket launched on December 23 last year. The "artificial sun" has been confused with rocket launches many times, but in fact, the so-called "artificial sun" is a nuclear fusion reactor that provides energy by mimicking the nuclear fusion process inside the sun, rather than "lifting off" like a rocket. On the evening of December 30 last year, the all-superconducting tokamak nuclear fusion experimental device developed by the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Hefei Academy of Physical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences broke the world's high-temperature plasma operation time record with 1056 seconds.
Further reading:
Mincha | more than 50 years later, the United States wants to return to the moon, why can't it say that it can fly?
Mingcha | this blockbuster video is "Beijing New Year Celebration"? How much is the COLOR OF AR?
Mincha | counter the United States, China will add Xinjiang cotton to all masks?