Star Wars: Has Russia's war with Ukraine gone intergalactic?
Summary
Russia’s military satellite Cosmos-2612 maneuvered close to Iceye-X36, a Finnish-American commercial satellite that provides radar images to Ukraine’s armed forces. US officials described the move as threatening, and space analysts said the Russian satellite changed orbit before coming within a few hundred metres to about one kilometre of Iceye-X36.Key Facts
- Cosmos-2612 approached Iceye-X36 between October 15 and 18, 2026.
- Iceye-X36 is operated by Finnish company Iceye and uses synthetic-aperture radar to produce satellite images.
- The satellite’s imagery supports Ukraine’s armed forces.
- The US State Department said Russia’s actions were consistent with in-orbit military operations.
- Norbert Pouzin, an orbital analyst at Aldoria, said Cosmos-2612 and other satellites launched with it began changing orbit after launch.
- Russia launched Cosmos-2612 on April 6, 2026, with five other Cosmos satellites.
- Pouzin said Cosmos-2612 came within a few hundred metres to about one kilometre of Iceye-X36.
- Satellite imaging company Vantor published an image showing the satellites’ orbits about 1.02 kilometres apart.
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