In
the 1957 the United Socialist Soviet Republic (USSR) launched
Sputnik I as the first blow of the “space race”. Most people
around at the time were fascinated thinking that the “space race”
was all about exploration and who would get to the Moon first. What
most of us didn't know is that both sides had plans to take the “Cold
War” into space.
Before
the USSR broke up they still had a plan called “Istrebitel
Sputnikov” or “Satellite Killer” in the works. When the
USSR broke up in the early 1990's there wasn't the funding to keep
the project going and it was thought the project was scraped and long
forgotten. Recent activity observed by satellite tracker has made
some people wonder if maybe those plans have been brought back from
the dead file.
In
May of this year Russia launched four objects. Three of these were
military communication satellites and one was just known as “Object
2014 28E”. After the all the objects were deployed in space it was
thought that “Object 2014 28E” was just harmless debris until
last week when it was tracked maneuvering to a rocket stage that
carried it into space. The Financial
Times
first reported about this object and its suspicious activity on
November 17.
“Whatever
it is, [Object 2014-28E] looks experimental,” said Patricia Lewis,
research director at think-tank Chatham House and an expert in space
security. “It could have a number of functions, some civilian and
some military. One possibility is for some kind of grabber bar.
Another would be kinetic pellets which shoot out at another
satellite. Or possibly there could be a satellite-to-satellite cyber
attack or jamming.”
In
October of this year a United States Air Force unmanned
drone landed after its second mysterious mission. Theories have
abounded, including killing satellites, on the purpose of those
missions. As far as we know our re-usable military drone has been
around years longer then the Russians supposed satellite killer. It
makes one wonder if “Object 2014 28E” could be in retaliation of
our drone and if there could be a new “space war” brewing.
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