A US general has expressed his displeasure at a recently launched Russian satellite that appears to be tracking a US military satellite in space.
US Space Command commander James Dickinson describes the launch of the Russian satellite Kosmos 2558 as “irresponsible behavior”. “We see it on a similar trajectory to one of our high-value assets for the US government,” Dickinson said. “And we will continue to update and monitor that situation.”
On August 1, Russia launched Kosmos 2558 into the same orbital plane as a US military satellite called USA 326. The US satellite was launched into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in February. Experts monitoring the orbits of both satellites said they suspected Russia’s satellite was an “agent” sent to spy on the US satellite.
The Russian satellite was launched at a time coinciding with the US satellite passing over the Russian spaceport Plesetsk, with both satellites orbiting only 0.04 degrees apart, says Marco Langbroek, lecturer in astrodynamics at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands. As a result, the Russian satellite could maneuver in orbit to get a closer look at the US military satellite and observe it to understand its probable purpose.
If that’s its purpose, it won’t be Russia’s first spy satellite to track US military presence in space. In 2020, a Russian satellite called Kosmos 2542 tracked USA 245, an electro-optical spy satellite in low Earth orbit. This behavior may not be appreciated, but it’s not entirely illegal to follow the orbit of another satellite in space.
So, even if the US government complains about this, there isn’t much they can do. Time will tell how close the Russian satellite will get to the US satellite.
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