Russian deployed Kosmos 2576 into the path of a US spy satellite
Russia may have deployed a space weapon last week as part of its Kosmos 2576 satellite, according to US military officials.
“Just last week, on May 16, Russia launched a satellite into low-Earth orbit that the United States assesses is likely a counter-space weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low-Earth orbit,” said Robert Wood, the deputy US ambassador to the United Nations.
“Russia deployed this new counter-space weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite.”
The Kosmos 2576 satellite is following the same orbital plane as a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) spy satellite. This will allow Kosmos 2576 to approach the American satellite and, potentially, interfere with or destroy it.
As the website Ars Technica reports, “The launch of Kosmos 2576 from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome on a Soyuz rocket was precisely timed to happen when the Earth’s rotation brought the launch site underneath the orbital path of the NRO spy satellite, officially designated USA 314.”
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, dismissed the US governments statements as “fake news.”
Previous launches and maneuvers in orbit have raised concerns that the Russians are developing and deploying space- and ground-based weaponry to target US satellites.
In 2020, the Russian Kosmos 1543 satellite was tracked as it followed USA 245. The Russian satellite ejected an unknown projectile at a velocity of around 400 mph (700km per hour), which could easily damage another satellite.
US Space Command said the event was a “non-destructive test of a space-based anti-satellite weapon.”
Government officials believe the Russians are also developing nuclear anti-satellite weapons.
