Story 2014-11-19 2V4G Mysterious Secret Russian Satellite May Be A Weapon

Mysterious Secret Russian Satellite May Be A Weapon

by
in space on (#2V4G)
As news of the Virgin Galactic crash, Antares explosion and Rosetta exploration filled science pages, another space drama has quietly unfurled. In May, Russia launched a rocket to add several satellites to its existing constellation. In the process, it deployed what was first believed to be a piece of space debris but has now become a matter of great speculation.

Russia did not declare its orbit, and now the U.S. military, space experts and amateur sleuths have been closely tracking its movements, each of which has been deliberate and precise. The unidentified satellite - called Object 2014-28E - recently navigated toward other Russian space objects, its voyage culminating in its recent hookup with the remains of the rocket stage that originally launched it.

There are whispers it could be the return of the 'satellite killer'. The Soviet anti-satellite weaponry program called "Istrebitel Sputnikov" in the 1960s was believed to be permanently retired by the Soviet Union's collapse.
Reply 4 comments

Is it pointless (Score: 2, Insightful)

by hyper@pipedot.org on 2014-11-20 07:12 (#2V4J)

... to have a weapon in space monitored by all and sundry when the owner is known..

Or maybe not (Score: 2, Insightful)

by fnj@pipedot.org on 2014-11-20 14:44 (#2V4N)

Or maybe it's not a weapon. Speculation is kind of silly. The US X-37B spaceplane we know is Air Force.