THE EVIDENCE / INDEPENDENT EYES
Japan, India, China and South Korea.
RECORD / AT A GLANCE
PARTLY TRUE
Japan matched the Apollo 15 landscape and its exhaust halo; India’s and South Korea’s cameras have imaged Apollo sites. Claims that China photographed Apollo hardware in detail are overstated.
THE EVENTS / THE CLAIM / THE RECORD
20 May 2008
JAXA reports a bright patch at the Apollo 15 site and a 3D landscape matching astronaut photographs.
22 July 2019
India’s orbiter carries a camera with 25-centimeter resolution.
2023
The Korean orbiter photographs Apollo 11 and 17 sites.
READ THE FILE
Other countries have cameras at the Moon. Why are their pictures so blurry?
A match of terrain, a halo and some hardware.
Open an article for its evidence, labeled AI assessment and numbered sources. Read the complete static edition ↗
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE
4 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.
Its instruments imaged the Apollo 15 site area.
Who says it: ISRO.
JAXA reported the halo from the descent engine.
Who says it: JAXA.
It imaged the Apollo 11 and 17 areas.
Who says it: KARI via Dong-A.
Chang’e-2’s 7 m images cannot resolve descent stages.
Who says it: Viral posts.
OPEN THE RECORD
Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.
JAXA press release, 20 May 2008 (Japanese). Says the Terrain Camera’s ~10 m resolution cannot show small objects such as the rover.
ISRO science-results compilation. Cited for the OHRC camera’s 0.25 m resolution and its targets, not for any particular viral image.
Primary institutional record. Carried from the first edition and re-listed 23 October 2026; cited for the specific point in the text.
Korean science news report on images released by KARI from the Danuri orbiter.
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Other countries have cameras at the Moon. Why are their pictures so blurry?
If the landers are there, critics say, rival space powers should have published sharp photographs long ago. Many images shared online as “Chinese” or “Indian” proof are crops of NASA pictures or have no source at all.
JAXA press release, 20 May 2008 (Japanese). Says the Terrain Camera’s ~10 m resolution cannot show small objects such as the rover.
A match of terrain, a halo and some hardware.
In May 2008 Japan’s space agency reported a brighter area at the Apollo 15 site, which it read as soil disturbed by the descent engine. Its Kaguya spacecraft also rebuilt the mountains seen in the astronauts’ photographs. JAXA noted that its camera had about 10-meter resolution, too coarse to show the rover or the lander. [1]
India’s Chandrayaan-2 carries the Orbiter High Resolution Camera, with a resolution of 0.25 meters, and ISRO lists earlier human landing sites among its targets. [2][3] In 2023 South Korea’s space agency released Danuri images of Apollo landing sites. [4]
China’s Chang’e-2 mapped the Moon at about 7 meters per pixel, which is too coarse to resolve a lander a few meters across. Claims that it showed Apollo hardware in detail should be treated with caution.
What we can’t tell you. We did not inspect raw OHRC or Danuri image products.
JAXA press release, 20 May 2008 (Japanese). Says the Terrain Camera’s ~10 m resolution cannot show small objects such as the rover.
ISRO science-results compilation. Cited for the OHRC camera’s 0.25 m resolution and its targets, not for any particular viral image.
Primary institutional record. Carried from the first edition and re-listed 23 October 2026; cited for the specific point in the text.
Korean science news report on images released by KARI from the Danuri orbiter.
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