Russia is preparing to test a new type of satellite that could be approaching other spacecraft—for good or for ill. The mysterious object, known as Kosmos 2499 , was secretly launched in May along with three satellites for the Rodnik communications network, which were its official payload.
It has since performed a series of unusual maneuvers, coming within a few dozen meters of the Briz-KM rocket engine that launched it into orbit. Its movements are now being closely monitored by Western radars, Russianspaceweb.com, which broke the story, reports. Its current satellite is available here.
No one knows exactly what Kosmos 2499 is, which is about 30 centimeters in size. However, analysts believe that the orbital approach technology could have either peaceful or military uses. For example, it could be used to neutralize enemy satellites, perhaps using a robotic arm that destroys the target's solar panels, or even with electronic jamming devices that operate from a short distance.
As well as being used for the maintenance of telecommunications and other large-scale satellites, or it could be a space debris collection system, a kind of space vacuum cleaner.
" technology could be used for either peaceful or other purposes," Robert Christie, a former member of the Kettering Group of astronomers, which monitored Soviet satellites in the 1960s, told the Washington Post. The newspaper even talks about a revival of the Soviet Istrebitel Sputnikov ("Satellite Destroyer") program, which aimed to develop anti-satellite weapons during the Cold War.
Speaking to the BBC, Christie noted that similar tests have been carried out this year by the US and China. In July, the US Air Force launched the experimental Angels satellite, designed to follow at a close distance the upper stage of the Delta 4 rocket on which it was launched.
The process is believed to be automated and relies on “advanced artificial intelligence systems.” Something similar happened with the Chinese satellite Shijian 15, which was launched in July 2013 and has since repeatedly approached the older satellite Shijian 7. The old satellite “made some small orbit corrections and the other satellite copied them, keeping the distance between them constant,” says Christie. “The idea is, if you chase my satellite, I will move it. So you have to move at the same speed to catch up with me,” he estimates.
In fact, the rocket that launched Shijian 15 "may" have carried another device with a robotic arm, which captured and then released a smaller, companion satellite. China, moreover, caused international reactions in 2007 when it successfully tested a ballistic missile to destroy satellites - similar technologies had previously been tested by the US and Russia.
Source: koutipandoras.gr
