No, China did not launch an artificial Sun into orbit, viral visuals show a Rocket launch.
A social media post accompanying a video is being widely shared across social media platforms with a claim that the video shows China’s launch of the artificial sun into the sky. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing China’s launch of the artificial sun into the sky.
Fact: As part of its plan to launch an artificial Sun, China has recently conducted a nuclear reactor test which resulted in the nuclear fusion reactor sustaining a temperature of 158 million degrees Fahrenheit (70 million degrees Celsius) for 1,056 seconds (approximately 18 minutes). This is higher than the temperature in the sun. However, this was a controlled experiment conducted in a laboratory. China did not launch the artificial Sun into orbit. The viral visuals are related to a recent rocket launch. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
According to news reports (here & here), recent experiments revealed the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) Nuclear Fusion Reactor, also known as Artificial Sun, had delivered a temperature of 158 million degrees Fahrenheit (70 million degrees Celsius) for 1,056 seconds (approximately 18 minutes). This is higher than the temperature normally provided by the sun.
‘The ultimate goal of EAST, located at ASIPP in Hefei, is to create nuclear fusion like the Sun, using deuterium abound in the sea to provide a steady stream of clean energy’, said Gong Xianzu, a researcher at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP), who is in charge of the experiment.
However, this was conducted in a controlled environment and China did not launch the artificial sun or the reactor into orbit. This news of nuclear reactor attaining high temperature is misconstrued as China launching an artificial Sun and was shared on social media along with an unrelated video.
What about the Viral Video?
Google search with relevant keywords revealed that China had recently launched Long March-7A rocket from the Wenchang Rocket Laboratory, which carried two satellites, Xian-12 01, and Xian-12 02 into orbit.
Visuals of this rocket launch can be seen here. In this video, we can observe the outline (shape) of the exhaust gases released in the form of a huge white cloud as the rocket ascends, similar to the outline (shape) of the exhaust gases in the viral video.
The rocket launch was carried out from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Longlou town. Google search yielded few news articles (here & here) which have published images of a beach, close to the rocket launch station, from which the launch can be viewed. The location in these photos bear resemblance to the location in the viral video.
Usually, when a rocket is launched into the sky, the visuals of the launch depict a fireball rising into the air just like the scenes in the viral video. Few other visuals of a rocket launch which depict a fireball rising can be seen here and here.
Although we could not independently verify that the viral video shows a recent March-7A rocket launch in China, the above-mentioned details are evidence enough to conclude that the viral video does not show the launch of artificial Sun by China.
To sum it up, China did not launch an artificial Sun into orbit, viral visuals depict a rocket launch.