A Russian satellite shadows a US one for days in an unprecedented manoeuvre

A Russian military satellite, Kosmos-2612, manoeuvred for several days at close range to a commercial satellite operated by a US company that supplies images to Ukraine, coming within less than five kilometres, in what space-tracking specialists describe as an unprecedented approach between active satellites belonging to different owners.

According to orbital tracking company LeoLabs, the Russian craft carried out “a series of deliberate manoeuvres” around Iceye-X36 between October 15 and 19, at an altitude of about 540 kilometres, alternating between positions ahead of and behind it. It came within five kilometres on October 16 and then withdrew in a controlled manner; it is now more than 100 kilometres away. LeoLabs says it had never before observed a deliberate approach of this kind sustained over several days.

Short time-lapse of part of this morning’s first pass of ICEYE-X36 (59103) and COSMOS 2612 (68762) over South America under partly cloudy skies. https://t.co/t8RhwmKcV4

“This looks like an unprecedented step by Russia, if correct,” wrote astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, a specialist in tracking space activity, for whom it would be the first known encounter in low Earth orbit between two active satellites without the consent of one of their operators. The head of Germany’s Space Command, Michael Traut, said the Russian satellite was “chasing” the US one and warned that such manoeuvres force satellites to adjust their orbits, consuming fuel and shortening their working lives.

Iceye-X36 belongs to the US subsidiary of Finnish company Iceye, which builds radar satellites capable of imaging at night or through cloud and has worked with Ukraine since 2022. “We are aware of the situation and are monitoring it closely,” the company said. Russia has not explained the mission of Kosmos-2612, launched in April with three other satellites that, according to the US Space Force, approached a Western spacecraft in May.

The episode comes a month after US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink acknowledged that the United States has “space control weapons in orbit”. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit but not conventional weapons.