Launch of Kosmos-2558
Systems allow reaching satellites critical to the national security of the United States. Information was provided by the US Space Command.
Russia will be leaving the testing phase behind and placing operational anti-satellite systems into orbit capable of approaching North American satellites of high strategic value.
The information was provided last week by General Stephen Whitingcommander of US Space Command. According to the military official, Moscow is positioning these systems in orbits that allow them to reach satellites critical to the national security of the United States, including reconnaissance devices belonging to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
Whiting did not formally identify the system in question, but his statements point to the Russian military program known as Level upaccording to space reporter Stephen Clark writes in .
Nivelir would have already placed four satellites into orbit that closely followed North American spy satellites in low Earth orbit. After arriving in space, some of these Russian devices released smaller vehicles, capable of carrying out their own maneuvers. In one of the tests, in 2020, one of these satellites launched a mysterious object at high speed, interpreted by North American analysts as a possible projectile intended to hit another satellite.
Officials in the United States have compared this architecture to a doll Matryoshka (or matriosca, in Portuguese), traditional Russian dolls that hide smaller figures inside them.
The most recent satellite suspected of being part of the Nivelir program was launched in May last year from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, in northern Russia. THE launch would have been precisely timed to coincide with the moment when the Earth’s rotation placed Plesetsk under the orbital plane of USA 338a North American Keyhole-class optical observation satellite. This precision is similar to that used in manned or cargo missions destined for the International Space Station (ISS), where the launch must occur at the exact second to intercept the intended orbital plane.
In the United States’ view, this synchronization is not accidental. Launching the satellite just a few minutes earlier or later would have placed the Russian device in a different orbital plane, making it much more difficult — or even impossible, depending on the fuel available — to approach the North American satellite.
Although none of the Nivelir satellites came closer than a few tens of kilometers to their targets, the chosen orbits would, according to Washington, allow a rapid approach with little prior warning.
“It is clear that Russia was testing weapons near our satellites,” Whiting said last Tuesday, at an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in Washington.
The general compared the situation to a scenario in which the United States decided to test a new fighter and a new missile alongside Russian bombers on patrol near the North American coast, instead of doing so in military test zones.
Surveillance of these systems is today a priority for North American Space Forces. Networks of telescopes and radars on the ground and in space track tens of thousands of objects in orbit, but Nivelir satellites are among the most closely watched targets.
According to Whiting, if one of these Russian systems begins to maneuver, the US wants to detect the movement quickly and alert the operators of the threatened satellites.
The news increased fears that Russia could be considering placing a anti-satellite nuclear weapon in orbit. A nuclear detonation in space could contaminate low Earth orbit with radiation and render large constellations of satellites unusable. A kinetic attack, in turn, would generate thousands of fragments of space debris, which increases the risk for all operators — civil and commercial.
