Last month India successfully launched Chandrayaan-3 on their Moon mission. The landing on the lunar south pole will give them the ability to research the surface with their rover.
The rover has been collecting scientific data since the landing. New photos of the lunar south pole from the Vikram rover were released this morning.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission: Vikram Lander is set into sleep mode around 08:00 Hrs. IST today.
Prior to that, in-situ experiments by ChaSTE, RAMBHA-LP and ILSA payloads are performed at the new location. The data collected is received at the Earth. Payloads are now switched off.… pic.twitter.com/vwOWLcbm6P
“Vikram will fall asleep next to Pragyan once the solar power is depleted and the battery is drained. Hoping for their awakening, around September 22, 2023,” the Indian Space Research Organization said.
The successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 makes India the fourth country to land on the Moon. China, South Korea and Nasa are currently operating rovers on the lunar surface.
Sulfur Detected on the Moon
“The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy measurements confirm the presence of (sulfur) in the region,” The ISRO said in a press release.
The rover will also look for ice on its mission and other resources that could support astronauts in a future space research lab. The rover is expected to operate for two weeks.
Internet rumors of a hoax
Some social media users have questioned the authenticity of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
“Nearly 99% of the footage shown of this groundbreaking event was clear, obvious and very poor CGI,” author Eric Dubay said. “Why do you suppose Nasa, Roscosmos, the Chinese, Indian and all other world space agencies spend money creating and air-time broadcasting all these computer graphic animations of their expeditions, rather than showing us actual video footage?”
Dubay is most well known for “The Flat Earth Conspiracy,” which questions the legitimacy of space programs and presents historical evidence for the belief in a flat plane rather than a globe. Dubay has also questioned the legitimacy of dinosaurs, nuclear weapons, and other proven scientific achievements.
Does NASA Make AI Images?
While the calls of the landing being a hoax are easy to refute, the Times of India reported that many have shared AI generated images on social media that are fake.
“There are websites that allow you to do it for free by just giving their image generator a few word prompts. It takes a couple of seconds to create a deep fake image, but hours of work to undo its damage,” Rahul Sasi, CEO of contextual AI firm CloudSEK told the Times of India. “The scary truth is that only machines can tell if an image or video is a fake.”
There are scientific studies that do use AI generated planets to test equipment according to NASA.
“Why would you want to fake a universe? For one reason -- to better understand our real universe,” NASA said.
Robotic telescopes take images that are later run through computer programs to generate data that can locate new stars and provide measurements of their size. NASA said the fake images are used to calibrate the algorithms.
“More useful for calibrating and understanding our distant universe, however, are fake galaxies,” NASA said.
This Is Not an APOD frequently posts these AI images on X.
Dubay questioned the release of digital landing footage as Chandrayaan-3 approached the lunar surface.
“They always change from live footage for the first couple minutes to nothing but CGI for the rest of the journey,” Dubay said. “Why can’t the public just watch the actual live video of the entire journey? Even if only to be recorded and released at a later date.”
Dubay described the official broadcast as a cartoon and that official black and white images from India’s rover are indistinguishable from a movie studio.
Did India Film the Moon Landing?
India did release actual video footage from the Moon landing as well as video of the rover launching, but Dubay has also questioned the authenticity of it due to poor frame rate and appearance of the Moon.
“What bit of this footage proves that India has actually landed on the Moon?” Dubay said. “What about these clips and images is supposed to silence skeptics and convince critical thinkers that this wasn’t filmed here on Earth?”
While India monitors its most successful mission in its space agency’s history, they likely do not have time to address “critical thinkers” concerns on the internet landscape.
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