A Russian military satellite carried out a series of unusual maneuvers, moving close to a US-registered commercial radar-imaging spacecraft whose imagery is used by Ukraine. LeoLabs a company that monitors potential threats in space, said Russia’s Kosmos 2612 satellite on Friday narrowed the distance separating it from the ICEYE-X36 craft from more than 320 kilometers to about five kilometers in less than a day, describing the behavior as relatively uncommon in low Earth orbit. Tracking cited by Polish news outlet Gazeta.pl later indicated even closer approaches. Later orbital data showed that the Russian spacecraft maneuvered away overnight Sunday into Monday. No damage has been reported to ICEYE-X36, which is operated by Polish-Finnish-founded company ICEYE. The incident follows similar activity in May, when five Russian Kosmos satellites shifted into ICEYE-X36’s orbital plane and one passed within about 2.5 kilometers, prompting concerns over Moscow’s anti-satellite capabilities. Russia’s intentions remain unclear. ICEYE has not confirmed whether ICEYE-X36 is currently supporting Ukrainian military operations.
