CLAIM
A viral video on social media claims that NASA has developed a rain cloud generator engine. A man in the video can be seen explaining how the cloud allegedly generated by the engine will bring rainfall in Mississippi.
Several social media users have shared the video on Twitter and Facebook with an identical claim.
The same video was shared by Facebook users in 2018 as well.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim around the video is false. The viral video is a combination of two separate videos. One is from NASA’s RS-25 engine test and the other is from BBC Top Gear’s video which is titled as ‘Jeremy Clarkson heads to Mississippi where NASA test their Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters.’
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We conducted a reverse-search of the image on Yandex which led us to posts that suggested that the video is from NASA’s RS-25 engine test.
Consequently, we searched on YouTube using keywords ‘NASA RS 25 engine test.’ This led us to a video uploaded on NASA’s official YouTube channel on 20 October 2017, titled as ‘NASA Tests RS-25 Flight Engine for Space Launch System.’
In the viral video, the footage alternates between some portions extracted from the aforementioned NASA video and the other part has a BBC logo on it. We did a YouTube search using keywords ‘BBC NASA cloud’ which led us to a video published by BBC’s Top Gear on 29 October 2010.
The viral video clips the part from BBC’s video in which host Jeremy Clarkson mentions that it is a rocket test. NASA News Chief Valerie Buckingham told The Associated Press that the BBC footage was shot during the RS-68 engine test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
In the BBC footage, Clarkson can be seen in the rain. He further says “NASA is playing God. It’s making its own weather.” However, NASA never had the intention of creating rain, reported AP. When liquefied oxygen and hydrogen propellants in engines are combined together in a combustion chamber and set off, they form a steam cloud. When this cloud cools down, depending on factors such as temperature and humidity, the cloud converts into water which can create rain, Buckingham told AP.
This particular viral claim has gone viral in the past on multiple occasions and has previously been by AP, Forbes and The Verge.
(With inputs from AP)
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