A Russian satellite called Kosmos 2542 made a series of maneuvers in late January to get closer to the National Reconnaissance Office satellite USA 245.
A graduate student at Purdue University pointed out the move on Twitter.
Experts believe the inspector satellite may be trying to collect intel of its own.
Kosmos 2542, a Russian inspector satellite, synchronized its orbit with a U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellite called USA 245, and is now trailing the classified satellite from a distance of about 186 miles, MIT Technology Review reports.
Michael Thompson, a graduate student in astrophysics at Purdue University, first raised the alarm about the set of maneuvers on Twitter. Experts believe the Russian satellite may be collecting intel about the U.S. spy satellite.
Something to potentially watch: Cosmos 2542, a Russian inspection satellite, has recently synchronized its orbit with USA 245, an NRO KH11.
A thread: pic.twitter.com/LqvYiIYBMd— Michael Thompson (@M_R_Thomp) January 30, 2020
Prior to the repositioning, the two satellites were in the same plane, but had different orbital periods, meaning they orbited the Earth at the same altitude (in low Earth orbit, between 171 and 630 miles above Earth’s surface), but they only passed each other periodically, maybe every 11 to 12 days, according to Thompson.
Then, on January 20, the Russian satellite used its onboard thrusters to perform the first of four maneuvers—the rest occurred over the next three days—to position itself closer to USA 245. Raising even more suspicion, the two satellites are farthest away from each other in Earth’s shadow and at their closest when in the sunlight—prime conditions for surveillance.
Thompson notes that evidence is purely circumstantial at this time, but experts agree the move is suspicious.
“Things do move around in low Earth orbit, but to expend your valuable propellant in this way to perfectly position yourself to view another satellite like this to me is just beyond the pale,” Thomas Roberts, who was an aerospace security fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told MIT Technology Review. “It’s not a coincidence.”
Kosmos 2542 launched from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome in November 2019, while USA 245 has been in orbit since the NRO launched it in August 2013. Russia maintained at the time of Kosmos 2542’s launch that it would only monitor its own satellites, as part of a satellite inspection program.
What Are Inspector Satellites?
Inspector satellites are a type of satellite that are designed to surveil other satellites in orbit. “This is not unique to Russia,” space policy expert Brian Weeden, of the Secure World Foundation, told MIT Technology Review. “It doesn’t happen every day, but it’s a capability that China, the U.S., and others have been testing out over time.”
During the Cold War, for example, the U.S. developed a number of antisatellite programs like the Satellite Inspector (SAINT) project, which included a series of four such satellites ready for launch. These satellites—equipped with sensors to monitor radioactivity—would be on the front lines, ready to track and possibly destroy targets selected by the Department of Defense.
These days, the technology is far more advanced. While experts won’t speculate as to what Kosmos 2542 may have onboard, modern inspector satellites can analyze the instruments—often cameras—aboard the satellites they’re following in order to pinpoint what those satellites might be targeting back on Earth.
In 2015, a Russian satellite called Luch saddled up between two U.S. communication satellites and hovered near them for several months. China has also sent up inspector satellites, which the country says have been used to monitor its own equipment in geostationary orbit.
“One of the big concerns is that we don’t have any agreed rules or norms about how these close approaches should be done,” Weeden told the The Verge. “That means an increased risk someone might get the wrong perception about what’s going on, perhaps even mistaking it for an attack.”
Now, we watch and wait.
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