Did Russia launch a satellite killer?
Amateur astronomers and Western military observers have been tracking Object 2014-28E, an undeclared "ghost" spacecraft blasted into orbit in May as part of a cluster of military satellites.
Unlike a December 2013 launch where Russians alerted the United Nations of four new satellites, just three spacecraft were declared in this payload. But U.S. radar picked up a fourth object, according to Russian Space Web.
The U.S. military has begun tracking the Russian spacecraft as Norad designation 39765, but its true task is still far from clear and speculation points to a vehicle that repairs or refuels existing satellites to one that sucks up space junk, the Financial Times reported.
Yet there's another possible mission for the mystery craft: Cold War-style satellite killer.
"Whatever it is, (Object 2014-28E) looks experimental," space security expert Patricia Lewis of think tank Chatham House told FT. "It could have a number of functions, some civilian and some military. One possibility is for some kind of grabber bar. Another would be kinetic pellets which shoot out at another satellite. Or possibly there could be a satellite-to-satellite cyber attack or jamming."
Object 2014-28E is drawing such close scrutiny because it rendezvoused with another Russian-made vehicle between Nov. 8-9, coming within a half mile of each other, Russian Space Web reported.
The Russian ministry of defense has been mum, but its space forces reportedly resumed its anti-satellite weapons program in 2010 after the former superpower reportedly shuttered it with the fall of the Soviet Union.
"It would be odd if space were to remain the one area that (militaries) don't get their hands on," Lewis told FT.
jmolinet@nydailynews.com Follow on Twitter @jmolinet
0 comments:
Post a Comment