Russia moves possible anti-satellite near another satellite used by Ukraine
bsky.app
bsky.app
also see:
* ASAT Anti-Satellite weapon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon
* Kessler Syndrome: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome
adding: more detailed article
* https://www.csis.org/analysis/could-russia-be-poised-use-orb...
that means, a game of demo derby with a satellite near its deorbiting window anyway, is efficient, vs launching a weapons platform to start taking potshots, or spraying tetsubishi in orbit.
> In April 2026, Russia launched six satellites, Cosmos 2609 through Cosmos 2614, into low Earth orbit (LEO). A month later, five of the satellites executed high-energy maneuvers that raised their inclinations to match the orbital plane of the ICEYE satellite. These moves were unusual because satellites in LEO typically avoid plane-change maneuvers as they require a large amount of fuel
* https://www.csis.org/analysis/could-russia-be-poised-use-orb...
> a series of manoeuvers by Kosmos2612 starting on Sept 30 were clearly designed to bring the two objects very close and synchronise their orbital periods, orbital altitude and eccentricity
so it's been in planning for a few weeks now
considering the SAR is US owned, that's going to be interesting politically if it suddenly stops responding
ISS has to move out of the way of debris a few times a year now, imagine what that's going to be like next decade
No, it takes a lot of delta V to change orbit