Russia’s ‘Killer Satellites’ Re-Awaken

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH BROCKWAY/THE DAILY BEAST

 

The trio of mysterious spacecraft were idle for at least a year. Now they’re zooming toward foreign satellites again—and no one really knows why.

A trio of mysterious Russian government satellites startled space experts when, shortly after blasting into low orbit between 2013 and 2015, they began dramatically changing their orbits, demonstrating a rare degree of maneuverability for small spacecraft.

Now after being idle for a year or more, two of the mystery-sats are on the move again. On April 20, 2017, one of them reportedly shaved hundreds of meters off its orbit in order to zoom within 1,200 meters of a big chunk of a defunct Chinese weather satellite that China smashed in a controversial 2007 test of an anti-satellite rocket.

By orbital standards, that’s pretty close.

Object 2014-28E – Space junk or satellite killer? Russian ‘UFO’ intrigues astronomers

This article could also be referring to what was a ‘UFO’ spotted near the ISS back in October, which hasn’t been confirmed to be one or not.

In any case, it’s what you don’t know of that you should be concerned about.

 

For the past few weeks, amateur astronomers and satellite-trackers in Russia and the West have followed the unusual manoeuvres of “Object 2014-28E” in the skies, watching it guide itself towards other Russian space objects in a pattern that appeared to culminate last weekend in a rendezvous with the remains of the rocket stage that launched it.

The object had originally been classed as space debris, propelled into orbit as part of a Russian rocket launch in May to add three Rodnik communications satellites to an existing military constellation. The US military is now tracking it under the Norad designation 39765.

US receives 2 Russian rocket engines RD-180 under contract

In case you didn’t realize how dependent the United States is on Russia, this shows you the depth. Today, America also can’t even send humans into space without renting a seat from Russia. The U.S. is willfully committing suicide and is beyond the point of no return.

 

 

 

RD-180 rochet engines are produced at Moscow region’s Khimki-based power engineering company Energomash

WASHINGTON, August 21. /ITAR-TASS/. US company United Launch Alliance (ULA) has received Wednesday first two Russian rocket engines RD-180 under a contract to buy 29 such engines, ULA spokesperson Jessica Rye told ITAR-TASS.

Russian Army Indicates ‘Cyber-Force’ Plan Underway

MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) – A senior Russian military official indicated Tuesday that Russia is in the process of setting up a special force for cyber warfare, tentatively confirming earlier reports citing defense sector officials.