Did Media Ignore World's Smallest Satellite Made By TN Students For NASA?

A 2017 photo of a group of Tamil Nadu students, who designed the world's smallest satellite that was launched by NASA, is viral with a misleading claim that it is recent and that the Indian media has largely ignored it while covering 'The Kashmir Files'.

The image is going viral with captions that allege the news was not covered by Indian media as newsrooms prefer to give breathless coverage to Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri's film - The Kashmir Files. The movie which is about the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, has generated a lot of buzz and misinformation too.

The photo is being shared with the caption that claims, "India made history yesterday, when 'NASA' will launch world's smallest satellite built by Tamil Nadu's 18-year-old student Rifat Farooq in April! This satellite has been named "Kalamsat" while honoring former President Kalam Sahab! It only weighs 64 grams! But Indian media is busy playing "Kashmir File"!"

(Translated from Hindi - भारत ने कल इतिहास रच दिया जब तमिलनाडु की 18 वर्षीय विद्यार्थी रिफात फारुक द्वारा तैयार किए गए दुनिया के सबसे छोटे सैटलाइट को 'NASA' ने लांच किया.. भूतपूर्व राष्ट्रपति कलाम साहब को सम्मान देते हुए इस सैटेलाइट का नाम 'Kalamsat' रखा गया है.. इसका वजन सिर्फ 64 ग्राम है.. लेकिन भारत का मिडिया 'कश्मीर फाइल' खेलने में व्यस्त है.)

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The same photo is also being shared widely on Facebook with the misleading claim.

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FACT-CHECK

A simple Google reverse image search showed that the viral photo is from June 2017 when students in Chennai built the world's smallest satellite and celebrated its launch.

We found the same photo tweeted by news agency ANI on June 22, 2017, with a set photos and the caption, "Chennai: Students who built the world's smallest satellite, rejoice after its launch. The satellite weighing 64 grams was launched by NASA."

India, on June 22, 2017, created history after NASA launched the world's smallest satellite, built by 18-year old Tamil Nadu student Rifath Sharook and his team reported the Indian Express. The article further stated that the satellite was named Kalamsat, after former President APJ Abdul Kalam, and it weighs around 64 grams.