Nasa

Is NASA launching three rockets during the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, for nefarious or "strange" purposes, as a post on TikTok implied? No, that's not true: While NASA is indeed launching the rockets before, during and after the solar eclipse, the purpose is to study disturbances in the ionosphere -- an electrified region of the atmosphere. The disturbances…

Do long-distance photos, showing things up to hundreds of miles away, provide evidence that the Earth is not curved? No, that's not true: Photos of faraway objects might appear flat because of Earth's large size, not because Earth itself is flat. While the Earth's surface does curve in these photos, it may not be noticeable due to the vast scale…

Does the TV channel's name "Nickelodeon" translate from Latin as "I don't care about God"? No, that's not true: The channel's name derives from the American name for a five-cent coin and the Greek word "odeon" used to refer to spaces dedicated to theatrical performances. The etymological meaning of "Nickelodeon" is "the poor man's theater." The claim appeared in a…

Did a U.S. Marine Officer spend over 15 years on Mars in a secret space program? No, that's not true: A NASA spokesperson told Lead Stories that NASA has "not yet sent humans to Mars" and has a goal of "having astronauts walk on Mars by 2040." A Pentagon duty officer confirmed to Lead Stories that this claim is "100%…

Did NASA announce it is planning to inject millions of tons of ice into the atmosphere? No, that's not true: NASA has no plans to carry out such a large-scale intervention in the atmosphere. This claim is a misinterpretation of a proposed geoengineering concept, which suggests using ice particles to reflect sunlight and potentially moderate the effects of climate change.…

Is the moon a machine that is filled with computers? No, that's not true: The moon is a rock with a metallic core, according to NASA, the agency that has studied the moon and outer space for decades. The United States has landed men on the moon, and there have been multiple countries around the world that have sent spacecraft…

Will the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse entirely obscure the sun for eight North American towns named Nineveh, as claimed in a video on TikTok? No, that's not true: Only two of the eight places named Nineveh mentioned in the video -- Nineveh, Indiana, and Nineveh, Ohio -- will experience a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. The other…

Does a meme on social media prove that footage of astronauts jumping on the surface of the moon must be fake because they come back down to approximately the same place? Wouldn't an astronaut who jumped up for one second come down many feet away from where he took off because the moon is rotating and has no atmosphere? No,…

Did Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say that Russia must win this war? Yes: Trudeau did misspeak at the end of a news conference in Poland. While speaking of how aid and military equipment would be supplied to Ukraine, he accidentally said "Russia must win this war." He immediately corrected himself and said, "Ukraine must win this war against Russia."…

Are solar flares not real, thus incapable of disrupting telecommunications networks, as a post on Instagram suggests? No, that's not true: Solar flares are well-documented bursts of electromagnetic energy emitted by the sun during geomagnetic storms, and a large body of evidence proves they exist and have far-ranging effects. Flares disrupt radar, gps and other radiowave-based systems, according to recognized…