WASHINGTON — The space tracking firm LeoLabs over the past year tracked two Russian satellites performing rendezvous and proximity operations. These satellites — Resurs-P3 and Cosmos-2562 — conducted maneuvers that offer a glimpse of the potential hazards that U.S. and allied spacecraft could face in low Earth orbit, the company said.
Resurs-P3 — a Russian Earth observation satellite — performed a large maneuver in November 2022 after years of inactivity, and approached the Russian military satellite Cosmos-2562, according to a LeoLabs briefing.
The maneuver by Resurs-P3 “placed it in an entirely new orbit shared by Russian assets with non-publicly disclosed payloads,” said the briefing. “Based on the approaches observed by LeoLabs, it’s highly likely that Cosmos-2562 has an electro-optical payload and has collected high-resolution imagery of Resurs-P3.”
‘Zombie’ satellite
LeoLabs said one of the takeaways from its analysis is that inactive satellites may be mischaracterized.
“Resurs-P3 was assumed to be an inoperative satellite prior to its maneuver on 11 November 2022,” according to the briefing. “This implies that command and control capabilities may be present on presumed ‘zombie’ satellites.”
Even though inactive satellites are not likely dangerous, the company said, “it’s important to monitor suspected dead satellites for potential activity that could pose a risk.”
Resurs-P3, launched in March 2016, was thought to be nonoperational due to a failure to deploy one of its solar panels during launch and early orbit operations. Cosmos-2562 is a Russian military satellite with a classified mission launched in October 2022.
LeoLabs on Oct. 10, 2023, detected a small maneuver by Resurs-P3 that likely was intended to assist in disposal operations, and it likely deorbited Oct. 17. Cosmos-2562 is currently in a very low Earth orbit, according to LeoLabs. “If no maneuvers are performed, it…
Read the full article here