At 10.30pm on April 1, 2014, leaders of the Russian Space Agency witnessed, with horror, a phenomenon they had never seen before. All 24 satellites of the Glonass constellation (the equivalent of the American GPS) are shutting down one after another.. Within a few minutes, military ships, aircraft and missile bases find themselves without their navigation systems. Practically in the dark, dangerously vulnerable. The “blackout” lasts thirteen hours. Only 23 days later, the then head of the agency, Oleg Ostapenko, made this public Satellite short circuit can be attributed to ‘mathematical errors in software’. But the truth could be something else, as reconstructed Frediano Finucci In his book, Operation Satellite: Invisible Conflicts from the Cold War to Ukraine, published by States Edition.
Finucci, head of the editorial team of the economics and foreign affairs newspaper La 7, and presenter of the Omnibus program of the same network, conducted an in-depth investigation full of unpublished news and background information about the unbelievable. A horde of sophisticated appliances and old scrap metal whirling overhead, almost always unaware. «It is estimated – writes Finucci – that at the present time There are 12,480 satellites in orbit, but only 4,900 of them are still operationalL. The author aims to reach the widest audience, with the first part being clear, didactic explanations. What is a satellite, how is it launched, what is its purpose, and how is it replaced. It is the necessary premise to get to the heart of the narrative, which is built on direct sources, especially American ones, from the cybersecurity and military sectors. Space, as we know, has long served as the necessary platform for much of our everyday gadgets, from cell phones to television. Today, many countries can put satellites into orbit: the United States, France, Russia, China, Japan, Italy, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan.
But, as Finucci explains, since at least the 1970s, The sky is an integral part of every military strategy developed by the great powers. Starting from the United States. The Americans developed the GPS navigation system (Global Positioning Satellites) in 1973. In 1991 they used it to move vehicles and soldiers during the First Gulf War. But the first real test of strength may date back to 2014, in Ukraine. After the Maidan uprising in Kiev toppled President Viktor Yanukovych. Vladimir Putin decided to annex Crimea and support the pro-Russian rebellion in Donbass. The American president at the time, Barack Obama has measured his support for Ukraine moderately. However, according to items collected by Finucci, the United States may have wanted to send a signal, a warning, to the Kremlin. On the evening of that day, April 1, 2014, the GLONASS satellites were turned off. Who was going to disrupt the Russian constellation? There are two paths followed by the La 7 journalist with the help of American analyst Paul Szymanski. The first leads to the Australian satellite surveillance garrison heading out To the five eyes, the five eyesthat it Counter-espionage agencies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and of course the USA. The other path leads to Holloman Air Force Base, in New Mexico, where, as Finucci wrote, “a section of Marines created specifically to conduct ‘jamming’ operations operates.” (Forbidden, jam.) In theaters of war and for this reason he moves in large helicopters carrying the antennas necessary for these operations.”
Eight years later, on February 24, 2022, “Operation Satellite” is repeated with roles reversed.. Exactly one hour before Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, a “silent and devastating attack against satellite infrastructure used by the government and military of Kiev” began, says Finucci. And not only. on 30,000 receivers went out of service in Germany, Greece, Italy, France, Poland and Hungary.
Volodymyr Zelensky was able to organize resistance not only with the weapons sent by the Americans, but also thanks to Starlink satellites Available for Elon Musk. The corridor is historic in its own way: the space is open to the initiative of private projects.
But the matter is not limited to the United States and Russia. China He is, quite literally, flying high. Story of the Spy balloon Its launch from Beijing and its discovery in the skies of the United States in January 2023 raised many questions. Was that a mistake or a provocation? Or launching a device to test communications between satellites and ground bases? There is no definite answer yet. But it is certain that China is also involved in the race for new space technologies. In particular, we read in Finucci’s volume, in the paper “By A propulsion system that requires only electricity, and scientists call it “Emdrive.”. Scientists and analysts all agree that the country that succeeds in developing this technology first effectively wins the race for space.
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