Space & Astronomy

Mystery Russian satellite 'could be a weapon'

By T.K. Randall
August 15, 2018

Image Credit: (PD) NASA via Wikimedia Commons "Serious concerns" over the matter were voiced by US assistant secretary Yleem Poblete at a conference in Geneva, Switzerland this week.

It is thought that the satellite, which launched in October, could be some sort of space weapon.

"We don't know for certain what it is and there is no way to verify it," said Poblete.

"[The satellite's] behavior on-orbit was inconsistent with anything seen before from on-orbit inspection or space situational awareness capabilities, including other Russian inspection satellite activities.""Russian intentions with respect to this satellite are unclear and are obviously a very troubling development."

Senior Russian diplomat Alexander Deynko has since denied the allegations, describing them as "the same unfounded, slanderous accusations based on suspicions, on suppositions and so on."

Just recently, Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin - commander of Russia's aerospace forces - generated controversy when he reportedly stated that "assimilate[ing] new prototypes of weapons [into] space forces' military units" was a "main task facing the Aerospace Forces Space Troops."

It remains unclear exactly what types of weapons he was referring to.


Source: BBC News

Tags: Russia, Satellite