Russia launched the satellite Kosmos-2558 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in August 2022. Nearly three years later, on June 28, 2025, the spacecraft “split in two,” shedding a sub-satellite that American space trackers cataloged as Object C. This seemingly unremarkable event, according to U.S. military officials and experts, represents another act in Russia’s preparation for space warfare, if not an act of war itself. Russian “nesting dolls” and their unusual maneuvers have repeatedly prompted U.S. accusations that the Kremlin is militarizing space. Washington’s rhetoric now echoes complaints Moscow made in the 1980s about Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as the “Star Wars” program. Four decades later, concerns have shifted from America’s orbiting super-lasers to Russia’s “inspector satellites” that can monitor U.S. spacecraft and carry out acts of sabotage.
A crash course in orbital duels
The current escalation in rhetoric between the United States and Russia doesn’t mean they’re about to start fighting in space. Star Wars-style battles and World War II-era dogfights are fundamentally impossible in orbit. Space travel follows strange rules: to overtake a target, you actually have to slow down and drop to a lower orbit, where you’ll circle Earth faster.
Spacecraft have very limited maneuverability once in orbit. After being launched at a particular inclination angle relative to Earth’s equator, you are essentially stuck in that orbital path forever. A satellite can fire its engines to raise its orbital altitude (as the International Space Station does regularly), lower it, or change its shape from elliptical to circular, but it is virtually impossible to make a major change to the inclination angle (such as transitioning from polar to equatorial orbit). Such a maneuver would require more fuel than the original launch.
In other words, spacecraft orbits are highly predictable. This is exactly why Soviet military leaders panicked about the theoretical capability of U.S. shuttles to perform “crossrange” maneuvers by leveraging atmospheric drag to deviate from an initial trajectory and drop a nuclear bomb somewhere unexpected.
If you decide to attack a hostile spacecraft in near-Earth orbit using your own craft (assuming an anti-satellite missile launch is not an option for some reason), you would need to ensure that your spacecraft reaches an orbit with the same inclination as your intended target. This makes your intentions obvious to outside observers, military and civilian alike.
What an inspector satellite inspects
In February 1960, at the dawn of the space age, the United States began developing an anti-satellite weapon system known as Project Saint (SAtellite INTerceptor). In the project’s initial phases, test satellites were designed to approach a “hostile” craft, assess its origins and purpose, conduct inspections (such as checking for radioactive materials aboard), and then destroy or disable it. The project was terminated in 1962, partly because Soviet satellites were known to have self-destruct systems that could destroy an approaching inspector satellite.
However, the concept of inspecting satellites in orbit persisted. In the late 1960s, American scientists discussed the idea of incorporating into international treaties the right of spacefaring nations to examine foreign satellites to assess potential environmental hazards, as demonstrated by the Soviet satellite Kosmos-954, which crashed in Canada carrying a nuclear reactor aboard.
In 2010, the American military launched the SBSS-1 (Space Based Space Surveillance, also known as USA 216), an orbital system designed in part to study space debris. In 2014, the United States sent up several more satellites to monitor geosynchronous satellites.
How (and why) Russian spacecraft inspect space
Russia’s inspector satellite program began to attract attention in 2013, thanks in part to the dedication of amateur astronomers who track artificial objects in near-Earth orbit.
The primary source of satellite orbital data today is the catalog maintained by the 18th Space Defense Squadron of the U.S. Space Force. But the catalog omits orbital data for numerous American intelligence and military satellites, and many amateur astronomers make it their mission to track down this missing information. For example, it was hobbyists who identified the American Prowler satellite in 2011 — a craft that had been left off the Space Force’s official records.
In December 2013, a Russian Rokot launch vehicle placed three satellites into orbit, designated Kosmos-2488, -2489, and -2490. Observers initially classified a fourth object as space debris, but tracking later confirmed that the object was maneuvering and changing its orbit, leading to its designation as Kosmos-2491.
Several months later, radio hobbyist Dmitry Pashkov successfully captured the Morse-code telemetry transmissions of a similarly deployed craft, Kosmos-2499. The satellite revealed itself as a likely inspector when it later deliberately approached the Briz-M upper stage of the rocket that deployed it into orbit. In February 2023, Kosmos-2499 exploded while circling the Earth.
In 2017, the Russian military continued its experiments by launching Kosmos-2519 into the same orbit as the optical reconnaissance satellite Kosmos-2486. Two months later, observers witnessed something unprecedented: Kosmos-2519 released a smaller satellite, Kosmos-2521, which eventually approached its parent craft and then released an even smaller satellite, Kosmos-2523, that also began actively maneuvering.
Russian military operations escalated in 2019 when the inspector satellite Kosmos-2542 deployed the sub-satellite Kosmos-2543, and then began pursuing not a Russian rocket booster or another Russian satellite, but an American spy satellite, USA 245 (also known to observers as KH-11). General André Lanata, then responsible for leading NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, denounced the Russian spacecraft’s actions as “a threat to our allies.”
The scandal intensified further when Kosmos-2543 released a third high-speed object — an anti-satellite projectile, U.S. defense officials concluded, which meant Russia was testing anti-satellite weapons in orbit.
Inspector satellites launched by Russia
approached Briz-KM upper stage
approached Briz-KM upper stage
inclination coincides with Kosmos-2486
separated from Kosmos-2519
separated from Kosmos-2521
approached Kosmos-2536 and Kosmos-2543
Kosmos-2536 (cataloged by US Space Command as Kosmos-2538)
inclination coincides with USA 245
separated from Kosmos-2542
International designation 2019-079E
separated from Kosmos-2543
inclination coincides with USA 326
separated from Kosmos-2570
Kosmos-2536 (cataloged by U.S. Space Command as Kosmos-2538)
inclination coincides with USA 314
approached Kosmos-2581/2582
International designation 2025-026F
separated from Kosmos-2583
Russia has continued its experiments in space since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Just before the war, Moscow carried out an anti-satellite missile test that destroyed one of its own defunct satellites.
In June 2025, a small satellite designated Object C broke away from Kosmos-2558, which Russia had launched almost three years earlier in August 2022. The sub-satellite then began raising its orbit to bring itself closer to the American satellite USA 326.
“I observed Kosmos 2558 and the newly released Object C last night. […] At the time of observation, Object C was some 143 kilometers [89 miles] distant from Kosmos 2558, passing the camera field of view some 16 seconds after it,” Marco Langbroek, a lecturer in optical space situational awareness at the Aerospace Faculty of Delft University of Technology, noted on June 29. “This is the third time we’ve seen this kind of ‘nesting doll’ behavior from Russian military satellites in five years’ time. […] It will be interesting to see whether any maneuvering between the two objects is happening over the coming weeks,” he added.
Russia does not disclose the names, mission parameters, or onboard equipment specifications of its military satellites. Typically, the only thing the public learns is that the Russian Defense Ministry has launched another satellite. However, some experts have managed to unearth more.
Veteran Russian space program analyst Bart Hendrickx studied scientific papers, government contract records, and corporate social media posts and discovered that Moscow’s inspector-satellite program is called “Nivelir” (Surveyor). Russian aerospace reporters at Novosti Kosmonavtiki have also corroborated this designation. According to Hendrickx, the Lavochkin Research and Production Association manufactures the primary platforms, which carry the military designation 14F150. The Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics (TsNIIKhM) produces the sub-satellites designed for “close-up inspections of satellites and, if necessary, their destruction,” says Hendrickx.
But there is no indication that Russian spacecraft have tried to destroy any American satellites. For now, Moscow appears to be content with surveillance and eavesdropping, and claims about Russia launching nuclear weapons into orbit are premature if not groundless.
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Story by Meduza
Translation by Kevin Rothrock