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The Russian surveillance satellite known as Luch-2 is back on the move and continuing its unusual maneuvers that have baffled space intelligence, space tracking company Slingshot Aerospace announced
The Russian surveillance satellite known as Luch-2 is back on the move and continuing its unusual maneuvers that have baffled space intelligence, space tracking company Slingshot Aerospace announced on June 27.
The satellite, which has been in orbit for over a year, has positioned itself near several communications satellites as part of its intelligence-gathering mission, Slingshot reported.
The last movement of Luch-2 recorded by Slingshot’s automatic tracking system was a “large maneuver” on June 23, indicating that the satellite was moving in the direction of the Intelsat communications satellite.
Audrey Shaffer, Slingshot’s vice president of strategy and policy, said the company has been “tracking Beam 2 since its March 2023 launch, with our machine learning algorithms predicting what will happen next.” The company predicts that Beam 2’s next focus will be the Intelsat 1002 communications satellite.
“If Luch-2 continues its previous behavior, it is expected to make an additional maneuver to stop its drift near Intelsat 1002 on June 28,” Slingshot said. This behavior mirrors that of its predecessor, Luch-Olympus-K-1, which was known for similar intelligence gathering activities.
Since its launch, Luch-2 has been particularly active, performing several key maneuvers during its first 14 months in orbit, the company said. The closest satellite to date was Eutelsat’s KA-SAT 9A, which came within approximately 20 km of the communications satellite.
According to Slingshot, the European, African and American communication satellites with which Beam 2 made the closest approach are listed below:
Luch-2 “has a history of tuning into communications satellites and now appears to be repositioning near its next target,” Schaffer said.
While Slingshot could not comment on whether Beam 2 would be able to intercept communications from satellites it approaches, the company’s decision to release this information is intended to allow satellite operators to “make informed decisions about their spacecraft.”
Source: Port Altele
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