Russian satellite closes to three miles of US imaging spacecraft aiding Ukraine

On Friday the Russian satellite Cosmos 2612 was tracked about three miles from ICEYE-X36, an American-owned commercial imaging satellite. A day earlier the two spacecraft had been more than 200 miles apart. LeoLabs, the space intelligence company that followed the approach, said the Russian satellite's path "appears to be a deliberate approach toward" the American spacecraft — behaviour it describes as "relatively uncommon" in low Earth orbit.

Objects at that altitude move at roughly 17,000 miles an hour, and analysts note that Russia appears willing to spend fuel changing its altitude, orbital plane and speed to reach the satellite. Clayton Swope, a senior space fellow at CSIS, called the gap essentially "bumper-to-bumper." Greg Gillinger of Integrity ISR said the episode suggests a purposeful engagement between Russia and a Western-run satellite that supports Ukraine.

ICEYE was founded in Finland; tracking sites tie ICEYE-X36 to the company's American arm. In January the firm announced an agreement with a customer inside Ukraine's defence ministry to expand cooperation on space-based intelligence, and a Ukrainian official confirms the military works with ICEYE's capabilities — though it is unclear whether this particular satellite is among them. The same official said the military was not aware of the latest movements, and had only been told of similar approaches last spring and summer. In May, commercial tracking showed several Russian satellites manoeuvring around the same spacecraft, and the US Space Force said at the time that the Cosmos satellites had been placed close to a "Western commercial radar satellite used by Ukraine for imagery intelligence."

Nothing has been attacked. LeoLabs says the intent behind the manoeuvre is unclear and warrants continued monitoring. The Pentagon declined to comment on Friday and Saturday, as did ICEYE. The US military has warned more than once about Russian work on anti-satellite weapons, and Ukraine is separately dealing with a satellite disruption that is still unfolding.

Aaron Brynildson, a space law professor at the University of Mississippi, notes that no strict legal limit exists for how near satellites may come to one another, and that if both moved at the same moment at closer range, the chances of a collision would rise significantly. Countries generally keep their satellites at least six miles apart. On Friday the gap was about three.