Russian military satellite likely rehearsed in-orbit attack

A Russian military satellite that maneuvered unusually close to a Western commercial satellite last month was likely rehearsing an attack, space analyst Greg Gillinger told Reuters yesterday. From October 15 to 19, the Russian unit Cosmos 2612 made several close approaches to Iceye-X36, a radar-imaging satellite operated by Finnish-headquartered multinational Iceye that provides imagery to Western governments and militaries, including Ukraine. At one point, Cosmos 2612 came within roughly a third of a mile of the satellite. “This is the most aggressive posture I’ve seen Russia take in terms of threatening satellites from another nation,” Gillinger said, adding that it “looks like an attack rehearsal.” The warning came as two other Russian military satellites are currently approaching Iceye-X37, another spacecraft in the Iceye constellation, and raises fresh concerns about the vulnerability of satellites.