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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia | |
| A Russian satellite has shifted within 60 km of another spacecraft | |
| 2023-10-26 | |
| [Phys] When it comes to saber-rattling, few countries employ it as much as Russia does. During their ongoing invasion and occupation of Ukraine, the country's leadership has repeatedly threatened to use atomic weapons. But the threats don't stop there. A private company called Slingshot Aerospace says Russia has maneuvered one of their Luch satellites uncomfortably close to Western spacecraft in GEO (geostationary orbit.) And it's not the first time. The satellite in question is named Luch (Olymp) 2 and its Norad ID is 55841. Russia launched it in March of 2023, and it's a successor to Luch (Olymp) Norad ID 40258. The naming conventions are a little confusing, but Luch 1 was a well-known interloper. Russia launched it in 2014 and maneuvered it close to other nations' satellites on different occasions. American company Intelsat was not happy when the Luch came within 10 km of their space vehicles. They reached out for an explanation, but Russia remained tight-lipped about the maneuver. Now Luch (Olymp) 2 is following in its predecessor's footsteps. Slingshot Aerospace is a start-up that uses algorithms and AI to track satellites. In early September their detection algorithms revealed that the satellite had initiated a new maneuver. The Russian satellite performed numerous approaches to other satellites, and by October 5th it had slowed considerably and appeared to be 'parking' within 60 km of another satellite. Slingshot's Global Sensor Network verified the detection, and also projected close approaches to another satellite at ~16 km.
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| Posted by:Anomalous Sources |
| #3 Naive, but yes. As above. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2023-10-26 23:31 |
| #2 It might have a camera and elint/comint sensors and Russians are parking it just below other satellites to intercept their signals. |
| Posted by: Spomonter Speaking for Boskone8031 2023-10-26 11:12 |
| #1 Russia launched it in March of 2023 So it could easily be a weapons platform. Or simply transponding the adjacent downlink. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2023-10-26 03:25 |