Mystery Russian Satellite's Behaviour Raises Alarm in US

From BBC: Mystery Russian satellite's behaviour raises alarm in US

A mysterious Russian satellite displaying "very abnormal behaviour" has raised alarm in the US, according to a State Department official.

Interesting to me that this article says the State Department claims "there is no way to tell what the object is", and yet they know it is Russian.

"[The satellite's] behaviour on-orbit was inconsistent with anything seen before from on-orbit inspection or space situational awareness capabilities, including other Russian inspection satellite activities," Ms Poblete told the conference on disarmament in Switzerland.

The article also states that the satellite was launched in October of last year. They seem to be aware of some interesting details about this satellite, even though "there is no way to tell what the object is". Perhaps it was poor choice of wording by the State Department.. but I'm sure I'm not the only one who notices glaring contradictions in reports like these.

My curiosity gets the best of me though. I would love to know what type of odd behavior/maneuvers this thing is doing to be such a cause for concern.

The US suspects that this could potentially be a weapon of some sort, possible anti-satellite weapons that the US have been concerned about for some time now.

a reply to: FamCore

Maybe it is the Tesla Roadster pulling some sweet moves! Hahaha

a reply to: ofleming

Or maybe an anniversary replica of sputnik.

And que the Space Force....

a reply to: ofleming

That was launched in February I believe, and is not orbiting Earth. Thanks for the comedic relief though

a reply to: FamCore

Isn't the type of scenario that they claim the Space Force is to be used for....? Satellite warfare?

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: FamCore

Isn't the type of scenario that they claim the Space Force is to be used for....? Satellite warfare?

Indeed, it is. Too bad it won't be established until 2020:

“For many years, nations from Russia and China to North Korea and Iran have pursued weapons to jam, blind and disable our navigation and communications satellites via electronic attacks from the ground,” Pence said. “But recently, our adversaries have been working to bring new weapons of war into space itself.” www.defense.gov...

A Russian satellite, as in a, one? What about the hundreds of American spy satellites flying over any and all the countries they want to fly over?

a reply to: FamCore

My curiosity gets the best of me though. I would love to know what type of odd behavior/maneuvers this thing is doing to be such a cause for concern.

It could be beaming troll signals to interfere with alien elections to elect their most orange person.

If they've been tracking it since launch (I have to imagine they have been...) they know where it was launched from- so it isn't hard to figure out how we know what nation it belongs to.

However, past that point... I have no idea how much information we have about what's up there. The US launches so much stuff these days I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find out we've got rods from god up there- or any number of bombs.
Who knows what Russia has up there- but an EMP detonated in the right spot of the atmosphere could devastate the US power grid. As it's been pointed out many times before- most of the population of the USA would be dead within a year if the grid went down.

I wonder why there's not much information on what it's actually doing?

a reply to: crayzeed

What about the hundreds of American spy satellites flying over any and all the countries they want to fly over?

Yea, but we're the "good" guys.

a reply to: ofleming
Doing space donuts and drifts!

originally posted by: VividestSum93
a reply to: ofleming
Doing space donuts and drifts!

Or having its battery randomly explode, lighting up Mr. Starman

a reply to: FamCore

Why the concern? Russia is our friend.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker

It could be beaming troll signals to interfere with elections.

I'm calling B.S. on this crap. More oogie-boogie Russia nonsense. How anyone can fall for all of this contrived, pervasive worldwide political theater is simply astounding.

Perhaps they can show us some neato CGI pictures of it in space with a large Russian flag displayed on the side of it.

Be afraid!!




OOGIE-BOOGIE!!!!

a reply to: FamCore

R.I.P Mr. Starman gone but not forgotten

a reply to: FamCore

That article was lacking..

This one says a bit more about russian "inspector satellites" and how that relates to why this one is odd..

Here

“In October of last year the Russian Ministry of Defense deployed a space object they claimed was a ‘space apparatus inspector.’ But its behavior on-orbit was inconsistent with anything seen before from on-orbit inspection or space situational awareness capabilities, including other Russian inspection satellite activities,” said Yleem Poblete. the State Department’s assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance. “We don’t know for certain what it is and there is no way to verify it. But Russian intentions with respect to this satellite are unclear and are obviously a very troubling development—particularly, when considered in concert with statements by Russia’s Space Force Commander."

And here is a less focused take from Space.com



Its more of the backstory.. there is also a link to a full report by same Yleem Poblete..

On a side note so many love to feed the beast they love to hate.

Good work comrade patriots.
Space Force out.

a reply to: Reverbs

Here is your Original Source:

US Department of State


In other words hear what was said how it was said before being filtered through "reporters'" minds.

BBC quotes like what? 60 words out of 1800?

Skips over pence saying "peace through strength?"

Its a much better read

I always encourage sourcing as best you can to avoid telephone games.

In short this is a US plea to other nations that the current space treaties are not preventative of space weaponry or space weaponry stockpiling. They use the same storyline as always.. us good guys want space open and free to all, and with russia we cant have that so we need all nations to support the us in our good deeds for the whole of humanity..

So BBC skipping over all of that just replays the usa hand for those with tiny attention spans.

And Im not saying Russia is not scary haha.. They have a quite the history of violating agreements. And it is their stated goal of developing an armed space force and anti satellite missiles. This is not surprising considering usa eyes in the sky giving them total battlefield awareness..

a reply to: AttitudeProblem

I don't find that funny.

Anyway, back on topic - if a Russian satellite had a multiple warhead hypersonic missile within it, launched at the mainland USA, where the warheads separated , spread out and detonated high up in the atmosphere causing an instant EMP attack that would shut down the whole country.......surely that wouldn't be the end of it?

They couldn't be so brash to think that the USA wouldn't be able to strike back with subs against the Russians......

Ive always thought, the Chinese and Russians, maybe even N.Koreans were planning a long term plan to eventually launch a coordinated strike against America......they know that it will eventually be them or us......so.........could the Russians be putting the final chess pieces in place?