The return of the Chinese space rocket ‘Long March 5B’ is scheduled for 9 May. The Italian regions that could be affected by its trajectory are Umbria, Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia. A meeting of the Civil Protection Operational Committee was held today to analyze the hypothetical scenarios. The suggestion is to “stay indoors”. The return should take place around 2.24 local time, on 9 May, but the time window of uncertainty is about 6 hours.
The technical table – composed of ASI, (Italian Space Agency), a member of the office of the Military Advisor of the Prime Minister, representatives of the Ministry of the Interior – Department of Firefighters, Defense – Coi, of the Air Force – Isoc e degli Esteri, ENAC, ENAV, Ispra and the Special Civil Protection Commission of the Conference of Regions – will continue, together with the representatives of the potentially involved Regions, to follow all the return operations, providing analyzes and updates on the evolution of operations .
The return forecasts will be subject to continuous updates because they are linked to the behavior of the space vector itself and to the effects that the atmospheric density gives to falling objects, as well as to those related to solar activity.
On the basis of the information currently made available by the scientific community, the Civil Protection provides some useful information to the population to responsibly adopt self-protection behaviors in relation to the uncontrolled return to the atmosphere of the Chinese space launcher “Lunga marcia 5B” and the remote hypothesis that some fragments can reach the earth. It is unlikely that the fragments cause the collapse of buildings, which therefore are to be considered safer than open places, underlines the Civil Protection which advises, however, 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 floors are safer. lower than buildings “, continues the Civil Protection.
Inside 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 “.” It is unlikely that the smaller fragments are visible from the ground before impact; some large fragments could withstand the impact “, explains the Civil Protection, which advises,” in general, to anyone who sees a fragment, not to touch it, keeping at a distance of at least 20 meters, and must immediately report it to the authorities competent “.