转自：CGTN
据中央广播电视总台CGTN报道，近日国外一些网友针对神舟十三号航天员“天宫课堂”谣言再起。在一条视频剪辑画面中，中国航天员实验使用的水杯被放大显示，并配以文字：“他们是怎么把水倒进杯子里的？”“水怎么都没有从杯子里浮出来呢？”该视频随即被Instagram网友转载，声称视频拍摄地并非太空，中国必定是撒了弥天大谎。
针对这一“大新闻”，美联社不敢怠慢，立即启动调查。然而经采访多位专家，美联社最终辟谣：这段画面恰恰与水在零重力状态下的表现是一致的，没有理由怀疑中国空间站在太空的存在。
The Shenzhou-13 crew give a lecture from China's space station on December 9, 2021. /CGTN
在美联社采访中，芝加哥大学博士后研究员、太空历史学家乔丹·比姆（Jordan Bimm）表示，水分子更喜欢粘在玻璃上或者其他水分子上，而不是分散在空气中。所以在没有外力作用的情况下，水在失重环境中会保持“抱团”状态。在航天员的实验中，水就会呆在玻璃杯里。而水的表面张力更有助于其保持静态，让人误以为是水在地面上表现出来的特性。
Shenzhou-13 astronaut Wang Yaping carefully pours water into a glass. /China Manned Space Program
去年，该实验画面就曾在海外社交媒体推特上引发争议。当时，中国航天科技集团、中国航天新媒体 “我们的太空”，以及中国科协科学技术传播中心集体出动，为广大网友答疑解惑：“水杯是为了便于进行实验，固定在桌子上的；杯中的水没有飘洒出，则是水的表面张力在起作用。”
由于这些知识点在过去的天宫课堂中都讲解过，“我们的太空”还因此感慨：“多读书，多看之前的视频，要有独立思考的能力……”
采访中，英国曼彻斯特大学研究中国太空计划的博士研究员莫莉·西尔克（Molly Silk）表示，中国根本无需伪造视频，其天宫空间站的存在已经得到了国际证实，其中就包括中国最大的太空竞争对手美国。
西尔克还向美联社强调了一点：中国已经向联合国成员国发出邀请，表示中国空间站欢迎各国宇航员的到来，“如果中国没有空间站，是绝不会发出这样的邀请的。”
A compilation of footage filmed aboard China's space station, has raised suspicion online about its actual location.
In the footage from a science lecture by the Shenzhou-13 crew at the space station on December 9, 2021, a stagnant glass of water was seen on a workbench, which some said was a prove that the footage wasn't actually filmed in space.
"Experts say the footage is consistent with how water behaves in zero gravity," according to the assessment by The Associated Press (AP) on Saturday. "Other videos show one of the astronauts carefully putting the water in the glass using a container with a straw, as well as strips that adhere the glass to the table."
AP said "there is no reason to doubt China's presence in space," adding that the suspicions about the authenticity of the footage is "false."
Scientific explanations
One Instagram post featuring the compilation suggests this is proof that the footage wasn't actually taken in space: "How could they get away with such a massive deception? Wouldn't other countries call us out?" The post had received more than 36,500 likes by Friday.
But the footage is not proof of deception: There's a basic scientific phenomenon that explains the water's behavior, an expert told AP.
"Water molecules like to stick to glass and also to other water molecules more than they like to disperse in the air," Jordan Bimm, a postdoctoral researcher and space historian at the University of Chicago, told the AP. "So if there is no external force, water remains in 'clumps' in the weightless environment, and in this case inside the glass."
He added that surface tension – a property of a liquid's surface that helps define its shape and allows it to resist external forces – "also works to help maintain the static shape and presents the illusion of how water would act on the ground."
A separate video posted on Weibo, a social media platform popular in China, in June 2022 by China's manned space program shows behind-the-scenes footage of the Shenzhou-13 crew preparing for their livestream lesson by carefully pouring water into the glass through a straw so that it stays in place. It also clearly shows strips adhering the glass to the table.
During their lesson, the Chinese astronauts also demonstrated another behavior of water unique to zero-gravity environments by submerging a ping pong ball in the glass. The ball would float to the top on Earth because of water buoyancy, but in space it stays submerged.
Other astronauts from around the world have also posted videos about how liquids work in space, including how they make coffee or what happens when they wring out a wet towel.
There is also other evidence backing up the fact that China's space station is indeed among the stars, said AP.
"It is extremely unlikely that the video was faked," said Molly Silk, a doctoral researcher at the University of Manchester who has studied the Chinese space program, adding that there is very little reason for China to fake a video.
Silk explained that China has even offered United Nations member states to send their astronauts to its space station – "an offer that would be extremely unlikely if China indeed did not have a space station to send people to."
China launched the Shenzhou-16 manned spacecraft on May 30, sending three astronauts to the space station for a five-month mission.
Since then, the three astronauts have carried out handover with the Shenzhou-15 crew, witnessed the departures of the Shenzhou-15 manned spaceship and Tianzhou-5 cargo craft, and done a lot of work including organizing supplies and transporting payloads to outside of the space station.
