A map has given a hint of how close a Russian satellite approached a spacecraft that provides Ukraine with intelligence in an incident that a space expert told Newsweek was a "shadowing" mission by Moscow. Media outlets reported how Russia's Kosmos-2612 got within meters of the Finnish-U.S. satellite ICEYE-X36 last weekend. It follows warnings from experts about growing Russian counterspace activity near Western satellites.
Two vehicles rendezvousing or docking in space is common, but Kosmos 2612’s actions could be the first time a spacecraft approached another without permission, said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and space analyst. "This incident emphasizes the need for international norms on space 'rules of the road'—how close to someone else's satellite is unacceptably close? There is no standard," he told Newsweek.
Newsweek has contacted Finnish microsatellite manufacturer and operator ICEYE, the Russian Defense Ministry and the Russian space agency Roscosmos for comment. Ukrainian military website Militarnyi said that at 2.06 a.m. UTV on Monday, Russia's Kosmos-2612 was 640 meters (2,000 feet) behind ICEYE-X36 and 2 kilometers above it.
By , the distance between them had narrowed to just 26 meters (85 feet) Miltarnyi said, citing the graphic map from satellite.map.space that shows the encounter. However, Hyun Seo, chief product officer at space situational company Kayhan Space, told Newsweek that the objects could have been as close as 8.8 meters (29 feet) on Sunday. "This estimate comes from the previous day’s orbit predictions.
Other predictions differ substantially, so the satellites’ actual closest distance remains unconfirmed," Seo said, citing analysis of the space flight intelligence platform Satcat. By Tuesday, the satellites were estimated to have moved to roughly 1,400-1,500 kilometers (870-930 miles) apart along their orbital path, Seo said. But at the modeled closest point, the satellites had a relative speed of just 0.13 meters per second, which is very slow relative to each other while traveling around Earth.
This suggests that the Russian satellite was "shadowing" or following an orbital path closely matching another satellite’s, Seo said. Shadowing gives the chance to study a satellite's design and operations. With suitable equipment, a nearby spacecraft could inspect the satellite, observe its equipment, monitor and collect information and disrupt operations.
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