Should the US Space Force be planning a human military presence in space? So far there has been no urgent or justifiable argument for an in-orbit armed "fort." However, a new version of the game of "Hide and Seek" has been evolving in outer space. Earlier this year, Gen. John Raymond, the U.S. Space Force Chief, mentioned that Russian "inspector" satellites are threatening the tenuous stand-off stability between adversarial spacefaring nations.
The U.S. Space Command has been tracking these satellites since launch on November 25, 2019. They have apparently been positioned near a U.S. national security satellite. One Russian satellite is known as Cosmos-2542 which ejected a smaller, nested satellite referred to as Cosmos-2543. Analysts have suggested the mission of the sub-satellite is to inspector USA 245, a classified NRO imaging satellite.
Satellite trackers claim the Russian satellites have been actively maneuvering near USA 245. On February 10, 2020, Time Magazine reported the first public comment by a U.S. official regarding this Russian satellite activity. This announcement reflects a growing concern that other nations are turning space into a warfighting domain.
It has been reported that Cosmos-2542 made its most recent maneuver in late January. Causing the satellite to drift toward USA 245. It appears, as a result, that USA 245 initiated a maneuver a few days later in order to drift away from the unwanted visitor. Gen. Raymond believes the Russian maneuvers were intentional and demonstrated aggressive behavior.
Apparently, this is not the first Russian attempt, nor the last, at such space-based space reconnaissance. A prior mission in 2017 included the deployment of a similar satellite that released a sub-satellite. One of the satellites released a projectile into space that may have been a test of a weapon.
Several years ago, in another instance of threatening behavior, a mysterious Russian military satellite parked itself between two Intelsat satellites in geosynchronous orbit. This situation lasted for five months. The Russian satellite was launched in September 2014, and seven months later was positioned directly between Intelsat 7 and Intelsat 901 satellites. At that time these two spacecraft were located just 0.5 degrees apart in longitude. During the standoff the Russian satellite maneuvered to within about 10 kilometers of the Intelsat vehicles, close enough to create a potential risk to the satellites.
Many members of the space community believe this incident is the first publicly documented event in which a commercial operator has been subject to this kind of approach by a foreign military satellite. Unfortunately, commercial space operators do not have much recourse other than to ask the government for help.
One conclusion based on these events is that the Russians have been performing dress rehearsals for wartime attacks on U.S and other national space assets if a ground-based war breaks out. Clearly, space-based assets dedicated to national security are an important part of deterrence to war. However, it is extremely difficult to protect military satellites from warmongering spacefaring adversaries. If a ground-based war starts between major spacefaring nation, in orbit national defense assets could quickly be neutralized.
It would appear that evolving in-space technologies may well soon compel major space powers to develop crewed military space stations capable of stalking and neutralizing adversarial in-orbit assets, if needed.
