(by Andrea Pinto) Parts of the Long March 5B rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 am Beijing time (0224 GMT) and landed in a position with coordinates at 72,47 degrees east longitude and 2,65 degrees latitude north. The news was released by the Chinese state media according to a statement from the China Manned Space Office.
The coordinates indicate the point of impact in the Indian Ocean west of the Maldives.
Il Long March 5 rocket had started from Wenchang, in the Chinese province of Hainan, last April 29 to bring the first module into orbit space station Chinese, which should be completed at the end of 2022. The Italian Civil Protection had advised to stay at home even though "it is unlikely that the fragments cause the collapse of buildings ”. The return forecasts, noted the Civil Protection, were subject to continuous updates because they were linked to the behavior of the rocket itself and to the effects that the atmospheric density gives to falling objects, as well as to those related to solar activity. In the time interval considered, there were three trajectories that could have involved Italy. For days, the Civil Protection had been holding numerous meetings with the state apparatuses responsible for dealing with this type of event. TheSo - Italian Space Agency -, a representative of the office of the Military Advisor of the Prime Minister, members of the Ministry ofInternal and DEFENSE of the Coi (Operational Command of Summit Joint Forces) and theisoc ofair Force (Italian SST Operations Center). Also components of the World, ENAC, Enav, Ispra and the Special Civil Protection Commission of the Conference of the Regions.
The note of the Civil Protection so he advised: "On the basis of the information currently made available by the scientific community, it is possible to provide some useful indications to the population so that they responsibly adopt self-protection behaviors: it is unlikely that the fragments cause the collapse of buildings, which are therefore to be considered safer than open places. It is advisable to stay away from windows and glass doors; the fragments impacting on the roofs of the buildings could cause damage, perforating the roofs themselves and the underlying floors, thus also causing danger for people: therefore, not having precise information on the vulnerability of individual structures, it can be said that the most secure floors are safer. low buildings; inside the buildings, the structurally safest places to position oneself in the course of a possible impact are, for masonry buildings, under the vaults of the lower floors and in the doorways inserted in the load-bearing walls (the thicker ones), for buildings in reinforced concrete, near the columns and, in any case, near the walls; the smallest fragments are unlikely to be visible from the ground before impact; some large fragments could resist the impact. It is generally recommended that anyone sighting a fragment not to touch it, keeping a distance of at least 20 meters, and must immediately report it to the competent authorities ".
THE SPACE COMPETITION BETWEEN THE WORLD POWER
The American intelligence community recently drafted the Global Risk Assessment Report where it warns the government about Chinese initiative in developing new military space programs, capable of targeting US and allied satellites. The report, drawn up by the Office of the National Director of Intelligence, highlights that the Chinese Defense is seriously thinking, at a strategic level, of undermining American hegemony in the space environment to pursue military, economic and international prestige advantages. Space operations will therefore be an integral part of the upcoming military campaigns of the Beijing army. The report also mentions some points that highlight Russia's non-negligible space capabilities, even if on the whole it defines China as the “main threat” for the technological competitiveness of the United States. In mid-April, during the Congress hearing of the Intelligence Services Committee, clarifications were requested on the recent Chinese initiative to send 138 commercial Earth observation satellites into space. The director of the ODNI Avril haines he stated at that time that those 138 satellites are part, in fact, of China's challenge to American domination in space. However, he later refused to publicly discuss the capabilities of the United States: "I think there is no doubt, in general, that China has focused in recent years to achieve leadership in space, to undermine our dominance." The intelligence community had revealed, in fact, in the report that China will have an operational space station in low Earth orbit between 2022 and 2024 and will continue to conduct exploratory missions to the Moon aimed at establishing a robotic research station and subsequently an "alternate manned" base. The report also highlights the growing development and the proliferation of weapons for use in space. Reportedly, in 2019, the Chinese strategic support force began training with direct ascension anti-satellite missiles, or ASATs, capable of targeting satellites in low Earth orbit. The report said Beijing has already deployed ground-based anti-satellite missiles intended to destroy satellites in low Earth orbit, as well as ground-based anti-satellite lasers, "likely intended to blind or damage sensitive space-based optical sensors." According to the report, in summary, Russia and China are proceeding without delay to train their military space units, and both are deploying new destructive and non-destructive anti-satellite weapons. Russia's weapons include cyberspace disruption capabilities, direct-energy weapons with in-orbit capabilities, and ground-based ASAT capabilities. The report predicts that Russia, with its vast network of reconnaissance, communications and navigation satellites, "will always remain a first-rate space competitor."
THE PROBLEM OF SPATIAL DUSTS
In a context of overcrowding in the new spatial dimension and of the remote but possible collision between them, it is necessary to think seriously about the space debris deriving from malfunctions and sudden collisions between about three thousand satellites scattered above the Earth in the low orbit of 400 and 1000 kilometers. They all took a little while to produce debris: deliberate explosions in orbit, typically for military purposes, or fuel leaks alone provide 63% of the satellite pieces in orbit and the examples are also very recent. For space junk there are many start-ups that are starting to appear on the market, like the Japanese one astroscale or switzerland Clearspace. While the Italian d-orbit proposes a solution to prevent the worsening of the situation which, with the constant increase of satellites, risks collapsing the system and making it impossible to place new ones, the so-called Kessier effect. It is estimated that they are at least 160 million space debris with dimensions from one centimeter to several meters, for a total of approximately 9 thousand tons. Larger debris is continuously monitored from the ground. The large debris is therefore kept an eye on, but the small ones, and they are the large part, are beyond control. But there are also those who suspect evidence of space warfare, given that two apparently functioning satellites, one Chinese and one American, have exploded in the last month.
THE ITALIAN DEFENSE RELIES ON THE ISOC OF THE AERONAUTICS
THEItalian SST Operations Center (ISOC), jointly operated by the Poggio Renatico (FE) Aerospace Operations Command - SSA Center (COA-CSSA) and the Experimental Flight Department - Aero-Space Engineering Group (RSV-GIAS) of Pratica di Mare ( RM), in coordination with the Space Operations Command (COS) of the Defense Staff, monitors potential events with a high probability of collision between two space objects of class "large"In low orbit, not maneuverable. In this context, the ISOC represents the national Operational Center of reference and is able to coordinate the use of the various national sensors (radar, optical and laser) for measuring the orbits of space objects of interest.