What We Know About Russia’s Secret New Anti Satellite System

In the last 6 months there’s been a lot of attention paid to a Russian Satellite Kosmos 2543 which was launched in November 2019 as a sub satellite of Kosmos 2542. This is part of a highly classified program, but observations of its behaviour from the ground show that it’s likely involved in matching orbits with and inspecting other satellites. In mid July it launched an even smaller object at relatively high speed leading some to suggest that this object is a missile designed to attack other satellites. As of right now, there’s nothing that’s a violation of international space law, but that hasn’t stopped complaints from NATO members. Much of the research here comes from Bart Hendrickx, Johnathan McDowell and others over at