Top-secret Russian satellite worries US military

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

A real spy duel has unfolded in recent days in space between Russian and American spacecraft. The Russian "Cosmos-2542" approached the American USA-245. What tasks do these top-secret satellites perform and why did the work of Cosmos-2542 bother the US military so much?

The head of the US Space Force Command, General John Raymond, confirmed that the Pentagon is seriously concerned about the "unusual and alarming" behavior of the Russian spacecraft Kosmos-2542, which could cause a "dangerous situation in space." This statement, published by the publication Time, he made in connection with the ongoing maneuvers of "Cosmos-2542" in orbit.

The Russian spacecraft approached several kilometers away from the US satellite USA-245, which belongs to the KH-11 type. KN-11, commonly referred to in popular literature as the Key Hole, is a type of reconnaissance satellites that have been routinely used by the Pentagon for optical reconnaissance since 1976. "Kosmos-2542" is a Russian satellite for "monitoring objects in low-earth orbit" or, if it is simpler, an inspector satellite.

Peeping through the Keyhole

For the first time, the existence of the top secret Key Hole satellite program in the United States became known in 1984. Then the analyst of the Center for Maritime Intelligence Samuel Morison sold three classified images from the KH-11 satellite to Jane's Fighting Ships. The published pictures showed the construction of the then secret Soviet aircraft carrier Riga (later Admiral Kuznetsov, project 1143).

After the publication of the photographs in the American press, a real spy scandal unfolded - Morison was found guilty of two cases of espionage and embezzlement of state property and was sentenced to two years in prison. However, "the awl has already pierced the bag": everyone knew about the capabilities of the US optical space reconnaissance, and in the most essential and precise details.

However, as it turned out later, the USSR knew about the "Keyhole" program much earlier than the moment the images of "Riga" were published in Jane's Fighting Ships. Back in 1978, a young CIA officer, William Campiles, sold to Soviet intelligence officers for only $ 3,000 … a detailed technical manual describing the design and operation of the KH-11 satellites. Subsequently, Campiles was caught and sentenced to 40 years in prison for espionage, which became known only in the early 2000s.

During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, they tried to keep the "Keyhole" program secret, in particular, by ceasing to publish accurate data on the orbits of the KN-11 satellites. But it was more like the process of scooping up water with a leaky sieve - after some six months, American amateur astronomers were able to find the "missing" spy satellites from the reports and published fairly accurate data on their orbits.

The veil of secrecy from the program was finally torn down in 1990. This year, NASA launched the Hubble optical telescope into space, which has become a slightly smaller copy of the KH-11. The Hubble's difference was in the smaller mirror of the main telescope, with a diameter of 2.4 meters versus three meters for the KN-11, although the telescope was launched in the same launch container. Experts suggested the development of the Hubble based on the KN-11 even at the time of its launch, but official confirmation of this guess was received twenty years later, when NASA published a description of the process of its development for the anniversary of the observatory. In this document, in particular, it was written the following: "In addition, the transition to a 2.4-meter mirror made it possible to reduce manufacturing costs (" Hubble "- ed.), Using production technologies developed for military spy satellites.

Over the past 44 years since the first launch of the KN-11 into space, it is assumed that sixteen spy satellites of this type have been launched and another launch was unsuccessful. The four newest vehicles, with the conditional numbers USA-186, 224, 245 and 290, are still in orbit today. USA-245 is the newest satellite in the KN-11 series, which was launched in August 2013, followed by USA-290 in January 2019.

How dangerous are KN-11s? Until now, they remain the most accurate method of optical reconnaissance - a supposed mirror with a diameter of three meters is capable of providing a picture resolution in the limit of 15 cm.

Of course, this is by no means "reading license plates", and a resolution of 15 cm is achieved only in theory - in fact, this parameter is roughly halved due to real atmospheric conditions, which are almost always far from ideal. However, KN-11 really remains the most advanced optical space reconnaissance tool in the US arsenal.

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If the US fears regarding the Cosmos-2542 maneuvers are correct, this means that the Russian Ministry of Defense already has at least images of the real KN-11 taken from the closest distance in near-earth orbit.

Kosmos-2542 entered orbit quite recently - it was launched on November 25, 2019. The launch was carried out from the Plesetsk cosmodrome on a Soyuz-2.1v carrier rocket with a Volga upper stage. The mission of the spacecraft was not advertised in detail, the official announcement of the launch said only that "Cosmos-2542" would "monitor the state of domestic satellites and survey the Earth's surface." Soon after entering orbit, it turned out that two spacecraft were launched during the launch: already in orbit, on December 6, 2019, another satellite, called Kosmos-2543, separated from Kosmos-2542. What kind of satellites are these and what can we confidently tell about them, despite the general secrecy of the Russian military space program and the almost complete secrecy of the inspector satellites program?

Let's start with the fact that Soyuz-2.1v, in conjunction with the Volga upper stage, can launch serious vehicles - into a normal orbit about 400 km high, used by the KN-11 series, this rocket can “throw” up to five tons of payload, minus the mass of the Volga block. Thus, at least one of the Kosmos-2542 and Kosmos-2543 satellites was heavy enough - otherwise it would be pointless to launch it with the powerful Soyuz alone.

We can speak about the layouts of "Cosmos-2542" and "Cosmos-2543" only with a certain degree of probability - official publications about the program of Russian satellites-inspectors are extremely fragmentary. In particular, according to the information of the "Bulletin of NGOs im. Lavochkin "Russian inspector satellites can be built on the basis of two possible platforms: a light one called" Karat-200 "and a heavy one called" Navigator ".

"Navigator" is a successful heavy platform (payload weight up to 2600 kg) developed by NPO im. Lavochkin. Ironically, there was also a process of "turning a tank into a locomotive using a file". It was on the basis of the Navigator that the most successful Russian projects in the field of space astronomy were created - the Spektr-R radio telescope and the Spektr-RG X-ray telescope. According to the "Bulletin of NPO im. Lavochkin ", the Navigator platform, due to the modular principle of construction and installation of additional equipment, can be easily converted into an inspector satellite. The size of the "Navigator" allows you to install on it a powerful optical telescope, radio control equipment and, for example, even electronic warfare equipment. As a result, such a satellite can conduct optical and radio reconnaissance directly in orbit - and, as an extreme option, even actively influence an alien satellite. Most likely, Kosmos-2542 was created on the basis of the Navigator platform and is the main payload at the launch on November 25, 2019.

But the second apparatus, Kosmos-2543, is most likely built on the Karat-200 platform - if, like its counterpart, it is going to "monitor the state of domestic satellites and survey the Earth's surface." There is some logic in this - two Navigators cannot be put into such an orbit by the Soyuz. "Karat-200" is a lighter platform, which implies the installation of no more than 100 kg of payload, while the satellite itself weighs about 200 kg. In the case of a satellite created on the basis of "Karat-200", its capabilities will be much more modest: such devices have a minimum supply of fuel for maneuvers and can usually only passively drift slightly below or slightly above the selected target in order to track its radio traffic or observe another satellite using simple optical instruments.

Is it dangerous?

In his statement, General John Raymond noted that he considers the rapprochement between Cosmos-2542 and the USA-245 satellite to be a "dangerous incident." He also said that "responsible space powers" should negotiate on the development of norms of behavior in orbit, which can help to avoid such situations in the future.

It is worth saying that here the head of the US space forces command is clearly lying and is trying to justify the double standards of the United States.

Indeed, since the mid-2000s, the Pentagon has been successfully developing its own program of satellite inspectors and until recently considered itself outside the rules and out of competition. At the same time, the American military does not limit itself in funds and budgets. Work is being carried out on several programs at once, which are known by the conventional names of top secret satellites - MiTEX, PAN and GSSAP.

The actions of these satellites are by no means so harmless: for example, back in 2009, the Pentagon worked with the MiTEX program apparatus to inspect its own DSP-23 satellite, which was part of the American missile attack warning system (EWS), which had failed a year earlier. It should be understood that the Russian early warning systems, the Tundra satellites, have similar parameters of the geostationary orbit and can be inspected in the same way by MiTEX or similar survey satellites.

The same remarks apply to the PAN program, which, by all known parameters, seems to be a heavy satellite-inspector, similar to the Russian Navigator platform, equipped with a powerful optical telescope and means of monitoring and influencing radio traffic. In the period since 2009, after entering orbit, PAN has already approached at least a dozen vehicles in geostationary orbit, including the devices of the Russian early warning system - and unambiguously conducted a detailed study of them. Subsequently, the PAN's belonging to the class of survey satellites was confirmed by the famous dissident Edward Snowden, who said that the PAN was created by order and acted in the interests of the NSA.

Thus, the game of "space cat and mouse", in which Time magazine accused Russia, was not started by our country. In fact, Russia was only able to create a symmetrical and tough response to the previous extremely aggressive actions of the United States in space, after which it suddenly turned out that the game of "spying on the spy" is really worth the candle.

In the end, no one can forbid watching other people's satellites in orbit. There are no reserved seats in this cinema, and Russia, apparently, has already earned an "entrance ticket" for this fascinating film show. That General John Raymond has to reluctantly just admit.