A claim is making rounds on social media site X(Twitter) stating that Pakistan’s ICUBE-Q  successfully reached the moon. The claim has been shared by several Pakistani users on X.

Sharing an image on X, a Pak-based journalist named Farid khan wrote: “Breaking: Pakistan’s ICUBE-Q has successfully reached the moon. Congratulations, Pakistan. We did it. Padosiyo, that’s our class”

Moreover, many Pakistani users shared the same image and made similar claims.

Fact-Check

The DFRAC team investigated the viral claim by searching some keywords on google in this regard. We came across a recently published report by India Today titled: “ China’s Chang’e-6 probe enters lunar orbit, prep begins for Moon landing”. In this report, India Today cited: ”China’s ambitious Chang’e-6 probe has successfully entered a stable orbit around the moon after performing a critical near-moon braking procedure which reduced the spacecraft’s relative speed to below the moon’s escape velocity. This allowed the moon’s gravity to capture the probe into a circumlunar orbit”.

Whereas, reports from The Times of India and The Economic Times mentioned that according to a statement from Dr. Khurram Khurshid to Geo News, a member of the Core Committee at the Institute of Space Technology (IST) saying that Pakistan’s satellite will reach the lunar orbit in five days and will circle around the moon for about three to six months.

Furthermore, we examined the shared image using AI detection tools & found that it is AI-generated.

Conclusion

It is clear from DFRAC’s Fact-Check that the viral claim stating Pak’s ICUBE-Q  successfully reached the moon has been misleadingly shared on X(Twitter). In reality, ICUBE-Q will circle around the moon for about three to six months.

Analysis: Misleading