Ocnus.Net
News Before It's News
About us | Ocnus? |

Front Page 
 
 Africa
 
 Analyses
 
 Business
 
 Dark Side
 
 Defence & Arms
 
 Dysfunctions
 
 Editorial
 
 International
 
 Labour
 
 Light Side
 
 Research
Search

Research Last Updated: Jan 14, 2020 - 2:26:37 PM


Russian spy satellite has broken up in space says Harvard astronomer
By Sputnik, Jan 14, 2020
Jan 14, 2020 - 2:25:37 PM

Email this article
 Printer friendly page

Russia launched the Kosmos-2491 military satellite into orbit in 2013, with few details made available regarding its capabilities and mission, leading to speculation about its true purpose.

Russia's Kosmos-2491 military satellite may has disintegrated in space, either by accident or after deliberately self-destructing, Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell believes.

Earlier, the US Air Force's Project Space Track reported that ten fragments thought to be the remnants of the Kosmos-2491 military satellite, assigned the numbers 44912-44913 and 44987-44994, were observed orbiting at altitudes between 1,329 to 1,699 km.

"At about 1321 UTC on 2019 Dec 23, the satellite made a 1.5m/s orbit change and 10 debris objects have now been catalogued. The inference is that Kosmos-2491 may have disintegrated, either through deliberate destruction, accidental battery or prop event, or through an accidental debris collision. I lean to accident since it is my guess the sat has been dead for several years, but it's not certain," McDowell wrote on his Twitter page.

McDowell recalled that the satellite was launched in December 2013, along with three other military communications satellites.

Kosmos-2491 was believed to have been part of the 'Nivelir' project, thought to be capable of manouevring and secretly inspecting other satellites while in orbit. Janes has even speculated that Nivelir was part of a Russian attempt to improve its anti-satellite warfare capabilities.

US observers believe Russia has launched several more satellites from the Nivelir series, including the Kosmos-2499, Kosmos-2504 and Kosmos-2519. However, McDowell noted that unlike some of the latter, "Kosmos-2491 did not change its orbit," and appeared to have ended its mission in 2014, continuing to float in the same orbit before December's sudden change in trajectory.

US Concerned by Russian Space Capabilities

 

Last year, the US National Air and Space Intelligence Center issued a report indicating that Russia and China were working on advanced space-based technologies aimed at "challenging US superiority" in the potential war-fighting domain. The US Air Force-affiliated think tank cited Russian and Chinese developments in missile technology, as well as directed-energy radio frequency and laser weaponry, which it said could pose a threat to US efforts in this area.


Source:Ocnus.net 2020

Top of Page

Research
Latest Headlines
How the Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan Endure
American technology boosts China’s hypersonic missile program
Meet Henrietta Wood, The Freed Slave Who Successfully Sued For Reparations
Allseas Begins Deep-Sea Trial of Polymetallic Nodule Mining System
Research sheds light on Japan’s wartime espionage network inside the United States
The Strange Mechanics of Fire Ant Rafts
Climate Change Signatures in South Asia
The frontrunners in the trillion-dollar race for limitless fusion power
Here’s the Whole Transcript of That Leaked Steve Bannon Tape, Annotated
Why did Russia help the United States during the Civil War?