Photo from Algeria does not prove that ‘NASA’s Mars missions were faked’

[Pelican Press 0]

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Photo from Algeria does not prove that ‘NASA’s Mars missions were faked’

A screenshot of the false X post captured on August 29, 2024." data-src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/etfJqJwlQaAHGONePeBmZQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTEyNDA-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/495a7898c1a65611d59cd403df838ebd">A screenshot of the false X post captured on August 29, 2024.

Possible signs of ancient life on the Red Planet were

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by

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‘s Perseverance Mars rover on July 21, which has made what could be its most astonishing discovery to date (archived links

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and

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).

The two images were also shared by thousands of social media users in English on 

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; on

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and 

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and by a Slovakian user

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.

Some comments underneath the posts correctly pointed out the improbability and inauthenticity of the image, but some users indicated they believed it was genuine: “This is proof we’ve never been to Mars, NASA is just filming in Algeria”.

The claim, however, is false. The image did not come from NASA. Official photos of the Ingenuity mission on Mars can be found

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(

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).

Millions of people still

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that the moment astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk the lunar surface was a hoax shot in a Hollywood studio. AFP has debunked false claims about the Moon landing

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and

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.

Photo manipulation

A reverse image search on

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using the bottom half of the post found the larger version of the original photo 

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on a French website called “Association Culturelle Krishnamurti”

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The mountain’s shadows in the background, footprints in the foreground and several other elements match the original photo.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the false post (left) and the original photo (right):

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/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

Screenshot comparison of the image in the misleading post and the original photo with elements highlighted by AFP

The purported “Mars” version of the image was edited in a Photoshop-like software tool: the original colours were desaturated, the NASA equipment was superimposed into the frame, and the people visible in the bottom together with their elongated shadows were removed.

However, even though the edited image is blurry, one of the figure’s legs from the original photo is still visible:

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/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

Screenshot comparison of the image in the false post (left) and the original photo with elements highlighted by AFP (right)

Image used without consent

The original photo’s metadata downloaded from the French website shows it was shot on a Canon 40D camera at 9:56 am on January 6, 2009 by a photographer called “Gregory Rohart”.

Below is a screenshot of the photo’s metadata:

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Screenshot of the metadata of the original photo with elements highlighted by AFP

Further keyword searches on

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found that 

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is a French wildlife and nature photographer, traveller, and blogger who also travelled to

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(archived links

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 and

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).

Rohart confirmed to AFP that he took the photo, providing a screenshot of it in Photoshop Lightroom, a cataloguing and editing software often used by photographers.

The same metadata and exposure details are visible in the screenshot below:

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/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

Screenshot of the original photo provided by the photographer

“I took it in Algeria when I was on a hiking report in the Tadrart desert,” he explained in an email to AFP on 23 August 2024 referring to the area of Tadrart, a desert, mountainous area on the border of Algeria and Libya.

“As a photographer, I obviously don’t like a photo of mine to be used without my consent, even less so for it to be diverted from its original meaning,” he said.

AFP has not geolocated exactly where the photo was taken within the Tadrart area.

However, another photo shows the same landscape on an

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as part of an itinerary called

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a tour to the southeast Algerian region (archived links

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and

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).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the original photo (left) and the photo from the Italian travel agency (right):

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/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

Screenshot comparison of the original photo (left) and the photo from the Italian travel agency (right)

Historic breakthrough

NASA’s

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landed on Mars in 2012 and continues its mission to this day (

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).

The space agency’s latest

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is its 2020 mission which includes the deployment of the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of the red planet.

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, designed to investigate the Jezero crater, aims to search for signs of ancient microbial life and study the planet’s geology and climate (

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).

Having landed in February 2021, it collects samples of the Mars surface, paving the way for a future mission that could retrieve these samples and return them to Earth, offering unprecedented insights into the planet’s history and the possibility of past life.

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#Photo #Algeria #prove #NASAs #Mars #missions #faked

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