A Russian Military Satellite Appears to Be Stalking a New US Spy Satellite (thedrive.com) 61
When a U.S. satellite passed over Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a Russian satellite was launched close behind it "with capabilities unknown," reports the Drive, adding that it's now "getting suspiciously close..."
Russia has launched satellite 14F150 Nivelir into orbit under a mission dubbed Kosmos-2558, and its current orbital path could soon place it in close proximity to what is reported to be the spy satellite designated USA-326. Unconfirmed rumors that the asset will serve as an 'inspector' satellite to covertly spy on nearby spacecraft have begun to circulate online following the launch and would line up with Russia's known on-orbit anti-satellite weapons capabilities and developments.
Its exact purpose is unknown at present, but it has been described as an "inspector" satellite, a term that is often associated with so-called "killer satellites...." Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics, or @planet4589 on Twitter, has noted that Kosmos-2558's current orbital path will soon place it within 80 km of what is believed to be the USA 326 satellite. For reference, the Center for Astrophysics is a collaborative effort run jointly by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Harvard College Observatory....
USA-326 was launched in February of this year by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket out of Vandenberg Space Force Base, its mission designated NROL-87, which is a classified national security operation led by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in partnership with SpaceX. A press release shared by the NRO following the initial launch claimed that NROL-87 was designed, built, and now operated by the NRO to support its "overhead reconnaissance mission," which is largely centered around protecting national security through the exploitation of space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the story.
Its exact purpose is unknown at present, but it has been described as an "inspector" satellite, a term that is often associated with so-called "killer satellites...." Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics, or @planet4589 on Twitter, has noted that Kosmos-2558's current orbital path will soon place it within 80 km of what is believed to be the USA 326 satellite. For reference, the Center for Astrophysics is a collaborative effort run jointly by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Harvard College Observatory....
USA-326 was launched in February of this year by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket out of Vandenberg Space Force Base, its mission designated NROL-87, which is a classified national security operation led by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in partnership with SpaceX. A press release shared by the NRO following the initial launch claimed that NROL-87 was designed, built, and now operated by the NRO to support its "overhead reconnaissance mission," which is largely centered around protecting national security through the exploitation of space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the story.
Space war is coming (Score:2)
During World War I aircraft were originally used for reconnaissance, with opposing pilots waving to each other, so what's coming now should be clear
Re: Space war is coming (Score:1)
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Shoot which fucking thing down? (And why?)
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The spy satellite, of course; as should happen to all spy satellites.
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So, monitoring what your enemies are doing is a bad thing, right?
Until we live in fucking Utopia, unless you're prepared to live under authoritarian rule of someone like Putin, you best learn to be a bit more pragmatic.
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Re: Space war is coming (Score:2)
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One B-2 bomber strike could shutdown their satellite launch capability for years. Too bad we may have to take Kazakstan's launch site as well.
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What you think will happen then? The Russians would launch a satellite which would destroy every Starlink satellite, and we end up with even more spacejunk making it harder to go to space.
Sure, all ~2800 of them. Get real.
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It would be best to avoid war with Russia.
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ok you're definitely in the heart of conspiracy theory. You need to wake up, take a cold shower, and come back in to reality.
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France and Germany never "made themselves masters of Europe." Your ranting only gets more unhinged from there.
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It would be great to avoid war with Russia. But, do you really believe that peace is achievable with Putin? Sorry (not sorry), but I'm not of the Neville Chamberlain ilk.
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It would be great to avoid war with Russia. But, do you really believe that peace is achievable with Putin?
With Putin? Yes, absolutely. With Nikolai Patrushev? Maybe not, we have to be a bit diplomatic.
Re:Space war is coming (Score:5, Funny)
During World War I aircraft were originally used for reconnaissance, with opposing pilots waving to each other, so what's coming now should be clear
Hands on satellites so they can wave to each other? Seems odd.
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Beware upcoming Kessler syndrome (Score:4)
I hope not, but if we start waging war in orbit there will soon be a huge amount of debris. Then how long before it will be too dangerous for astronauts ?
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Most people have no understanding of orbits or how much empty space there is even that close to the planet. They watched "Gravity" and are now experts.
And then there are people like you who think they know more because of some book they read once.
When was the last time you were in space -- oh right, you weren't. But go on an tell us about all the nothing of space and all the manmade non-existent junk that already encompasses the planet.
Maybe next time learn to read and realize we are not talking ALL OF SPACE.
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“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
And while Earth orbit is much smaller than the entirety of space, it is still relatively large, particularly when the satellites are in LEO and most of the debris would deorbit itself in a couple of months
imo, this is more of Putin acting like the Pira
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it is still relatively large, particularly when the satellites are in LEO and most of the debris would deorbit itself in a couple of months
Your pontificating does not refute the findings of Kessler that have been confirmed by everyone who has studied this.
Here is a link to Kessler's 1991 paper [archive.org].
The chief problem with your assurance "most of the debris would deorbit itself in a couple of months" is a non-useful definition of "most". The vast majority of orbital debris, as measured by mass, is larger pieces -- in the kilogram range -- and it is these pieces with long orbital lifetimes that keep the Kessler collision process going, constantly col
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"When was the last time you were in space" This is absolutely irrelevant to the question of how much space junk is--or is not--out there.
Re: Beware upcoming Kessler syndrome (Score:2)
Re: Beware upcoming Kessler syndrome (Score:5, Informative)
Many people also have no clue just how much stuff is up there.
Here you go: https://platform.leolabs.space... [platform.leolabs.space]
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Then on the first day something hits the new space telescope.
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This altercation (?) is happening in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), less than 2000km from Earth.
In the event of the "altercation" going full-Kessler, the amount of debris that will get to the vicinity of JWST is pretty small, and the "vicinity" is pretty large. So the likely consequences for JWST are small.
The ambient/ transient population of natural micrometeoroids in the JWST's vicinity is not zero ; some degree of degradation
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To make the picture even clearer, the L2 orbit is beyond the orbit of the Moon (which orbits ~384,400 km around the earth). We don't bother putting commercial satellites beyond geosynchronous orbit, and that orbit is ~35,786 km around the earth.
Re:Beware upcoming Kessler syndrome (Score:5, Informative)
I think everyone agrees it would be a bad thing to start scattering junk all over, but fortunately, spy satellites (the most likely target) tend to be placed in very low earth orbit. Any debris in those orbital planes would fall back down to earth in a few years, a decade at most, due to the very slight drag created by the uppermost of atmospheric molecules.
What would be disastrous is to start polluting the geosynchronous orbital track with debris. By comparison, that's a very limited space that every geosynchronous satellite has to share. And because it's so high, debris there is pretty much going to stay there permanently (at least by our lifetimes).
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It's foolish of course for Russia to get into a satellite war as thanks primarily to SpaceX and secondarily Arianespace, NATO has a major lift volume advantage.
But Russia being foolish in their machismo is unfortunately a likely outcome.
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A lift advantage is irrelevant if there is sufficient space junk to deny access to space.
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What would be disastrous is to start polluting the geosynchronous orbital track with debris. By comparison, that's a very limited space that every geosynchronous satellite has to share.
If you were to compare the two you would see that the surface area of GEO is 25x that of LEO. Geosynchronous orbits are not constrained to the plane of the equator.
And because it's so high, debris there is pretty much going to stay there permanently (at least by our lifetimes).
All depends on particulars of the orbit. Shit could start falling out as soon as a few decades.
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Well, if by "geosynchronous" one means "where a satellite stays above a single point of Earth's surface", as is the standard meaning, then actually geosynchronous orbits ARE constrained to the plane of the equator, so there is effectively one.
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Correction: I actually meant "geostationary orbit", which of course is limited to a single orbit.
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I hope not, but if we start waging war in orbit there will soon be a huge amount of debris. Then how long before it will be too dangerous for astronauts ?
Considering Russia has its troops occupying the largest nuclear plant in Europe and is storing munitions [nytimes.com] directly next to the reactors [themoscowtimes.com] as well as torturing the people operating the plant, I don't think they're much concerned about debris in space.
Re:Beware upcoming Kessler syndrome (Score:4, Funny)
Putin was asked about their satellite. His response: is not satellite, is potato.
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Nikita Khrushchev once said something similar about the American Vanguard satellite: Is not satellite, is grapefruit.
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Space Force (Score:3)
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Thankfully the US has highly competent militaryâ(TM)s personnel to defend out space assets.
As competent as Slashdotâ(TM)s unicode support?
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Thankfully the US has highly competent militaryâ(TM)s personnel to defend out space assets.
You've clearly not spent much time around the military.
"Stalking" doesn't appear to be correct (Score:3)
The new satellite was launched into a close orbit. The article itself seems to mainly talk about what "could" happen and what its purpose "might" be.
If it actually is a killer satellite - well, hopefully Russia's aim is better with satellites than has been the case with their "precision" missiles in Ukraine.
"Hey Putin, inspect my (Score:1)
laser with your sensitive optics!"
Spy vs Spy (Score:2)
Spy vs Spy is a fair game.
We launched a "spy satellite" to observe what Russia is doing. Russia launches a "counter spy satellite" to observe what our "spy satellite" is doing.
It is interesting to watch happening, but until there is actual damage done, it remains "no harm, no foul". Even if there is a collision, the rule of three applies: Once is an accident, Twice is a coincidence, Three times is enemy action.
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"Even if there is a collision, the rule of three applies: Once is an accident, Twice is a coincidence, Three times is enemy action."
Maybe for public consumption. But, there are no real accidents on this level of international recon. Only denial and deception.
Time for USA-326 to "take a shite"... (Score:2)
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this would be utterly irresponsible
Re: Time for USA-326 to "take a shite"... (Score:2)
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If you really wanted to do "something", and could get it past the diplomat corps, then a magnetic "mine" with some hunt-attach propulsion+logic, and a payload of a high-surface area drogue which could be deployed as a distinct option to "attaching" ; something that would considerably increase the drag on the target
Interesting Tech (Score:2)
Some of the US "spy" satellites are not like the others.
This could be a new model or just an odd ball.
The Russians could be interested in the tech or just what it is doing.
The direction it points at or it's emissions could give it away.
All spy organizations are snoopy & sneaky little weasels with an almost infinite amount of curiousity.
All us civillians will probally NEVER know and if we find out, it will be decades from now.
Looney Toons (Score:2)
Cue the Looney Toons comedy sequence where the US satellite erratically tries to evade the pursuing Russian satellite, zigzagging across the sky, changing speed in an attempt to prevent the other from getting close enough to take detailed pictures of the tech and/or link up to intercept/extract intelligence.
Star Wars have begun (Score:1)