Fact check: Viral video doesn’t reveal sights, sounds of Mars from Perseverance rover – USA TODAY

The claim: Viral video shows Perseverance on Mars

NASA's newest robotic explorer, the Perseverance rover, touched down on the planet of Mars on Feb. 18, ending its300 million-mile journey from a Florida launch pad.

Following its landing, social media was flooded with news reports, videos and photographs of the rover and those involved in the NASA control room.

Among the onslaught ofposts expressingexcitement overthe rover's safe landing on the red planet were videos and photographsthat misrepresented or misidentified Perseverance and what it could see on Mars.

One exampleis this viral video,which includes a panoramic view and audio of Mars, with claims that the footage is from the Perseverance rover.

The caption reads, "Early video from NASA Perseverance, Mars. Stunning."

USA TODAY has reached out to the poster for comment.

The 26-second video includes audio and pans around the brown landscape.

This video is from Mars but is not footage from Perseverance. It is actually from the Curiosity rover, the title of whichis visible in the last few seconds of the video in the bottom left corner.

The footage from Curiosity, which looks like a video in this format,is actually a panoramic photograph from 2019,which can be seen here.

The sound in the video is alsonot genuine because the Perseverance rover will be the first rover to have microphones operating on Mars. NASA didn't release the first audio files until Feb. 22, and instances of this video claiming to be Perseverance started appearing on social media prior to that.

Previously, NASA hascaptured seismic vibrations from Mars, but it has not recorded sounds from the surface of the planet like the post claims.

The claim in the post has been rated FALSE. Neither the video nor the audiofootage in the Facebook post is from the Perseverance rover. The footage is actually a panoramic photograph from the Curiosity rover. Also, the sound in the video is not authentic.

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Fact check: Viral video doesn't reveal sights, sounds of Mars from Perseverance rover - USA TODAY