[Motherboard.Vice] The Russian military satellite Kosmos 2501, also known as Luch or Olymp, has been acting very strangely of late. Launched on September 28, 2014, Luch spent its first months in geostationary orbit flitting between Russian spacecraft, which was mildly puzzling to satellite trackers, but not an immediate cause for alarm.But in early April, Luch went on the move again, and this time it nestled provocatively between the orbital paths of two satellites operated by Intelsat, a communications provider based jointly in Luxembourg and Washington DC. Then, on September 25, it relocated once more, positioning itself just 0.1 degrees west of another one of the company's satellites, Intelsat 905.
There are a few sketchy things going on here. First and foremost, unannounced flight changes can be dangerous, as they disrupt the working model of restricting satellites to specific orbital pathways. Switching to an orbit only a few kilometers away from another satellite, without notifying that satellite's operators of your intent, is bound to be met with suspicion.
"This is not normal behavior and we're concerned," Kay Sears, president of Intelsat General, said of Luch's recent maneuvers in an Oct. 8 interview with SpaceNews. "We absolutely need responsible operators. Space is a domain that has to be protected."
"If we all did that, we would have a lot of accidents," she added.
Plan for capabilities, not intentions. Perhaps we need to launch our own shadow for Kosmos 2501 that maneuvers and stays close to it. All unannounced of course.