{"id":474126,"date":"2026-05-08T03:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T03:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474126\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T03:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T03:32:16","slug":"whatever-russia-is-testing-its-sophisticated-satellites-pass-within-3-metres-of-each-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474126\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Whatever Russia is testing, it\u2019s sophisticated\u2019: Satellites pass within 3 metres of each other"},"content":{"rendered":"

Astronomers have observed two Russian military satellites<\/a> passing within 3 metres (10 feet) of each other in an unexplained manoeuvre.<\/p>\n

The COSMOS 2581 and COSMOS 2583 satellites, launched by Russia<\/a>\u2019s space agency Roscosmos in February 2025, performed the operation last week while orbiting at an altitude of around 585 kilometres.<\/p>\n

The incident, which was tracked by US-based space situational awareness firm COMSPOC, has raised concerns about space-based surveillance and orbital collisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis week we observed a complex proximity event involving Russian satellites,\u201d COMSPOC wrote in a post<\/a> to X, alongside a simulation of the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis wasn\u2019t a coincidental pass \u2013 COSMOS 2583 performed several fine manoeuvres to maintain this tight configuration… Whatever Russia is testing, it\u2019s sophisticated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russia has not disclosed the specific purpose of the satellites, though space analysts noted that one of them released a \u201csub-satellite\u201d referred to as Object F.<\/p>\n

They are believed to be part of a program involving \u201cinspector satellites\u201d, designed to test or perform surveillance operations of other spacecraft in orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a precision-engineering perspective, this is genuinely impressive, but close-proximity operations are not unusual,\u201d Dean Sladen, an aerospace engineer at precision engineering components supplier Accu Components, told The Independent.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery crewed and cargo vehicle bound for the International Space Station carries out similar manoeuvres, with spacecraft far larger than these satellites docking within metres of the station on a monthly basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference is [the COSMOS manoeuvre] took place between two free-flying satellites without docking mechanisms or cooperative protocols, and the closing rates were likely higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

The manoeuvre is concerning from the perspective of space debris<\/a> in low Earth orbit, with Accu Components\u2019 recent space debris report<\/a> revealing that nearly half of all tracked objects in Earth\u2019s orbit are space junk.<\/p>\n

A collision between two satellites can lead to what is known as the Kessler syndrome<\/a>, whereby pieces of debris cause knock-on collisions that create an impenetrable layer of debris that blocks any future rocket launches from Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cSatellites in low Earth orbit typically travel at roughly 8 kilometres per second. Everything has to be handled by onboard guidance systems running thousands of calculations a second, with manoeuvre decisions made autonomously inside tight time windows,\u201d Mr Sladen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that control loop works, the precision and granularity are extraordinary. That said, when it doesn’t, a single miscalculation can turn two intact spacecraft into thousands of high-velocity fragments capable of disabling anything they strike.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Astronomers have observed two Russian military satellites passing within 3 metres (10 feet) of each other in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[18,19,17,550,207801,133,451,8912],"class_list":{"0":"post-474126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-russia","12":"tag-russian-satellites","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-space","15":"tag-space-debris"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116536852370496371","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}