Russian military satellite manoeuvres near Finnish ICEYE-X36 raise concerns of first anti-satellite attack
Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek has reported unusual behaviour by a Russian military satellite in the immediate vicinity of a European satellite originally from Finland. Langbroek, who works at Delft University of Technology’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and specialises in observing classified spy satellites, first noticed the manoeuvres of KOSMOS 2612 near ICEYE-X36. ICEYE-X36 was launched in March 2024 from Vandenberg space base in the United States and uses radar observation, allowing it to monitor Earth’s surface through cloud cover.
The satellite has cooperated with the Ukrainian government since 2022, and Langbroek speculates it is probably working for the Ukrainian military. He began reporting on the situation on Saturday 17 October, calling it highly concerning. “If Ukraine is indeed using ICEYE-X36, this means that a satellite of one country — Russia — is closely approaching a satellite of another state — Ukraine — with which it is at war,” Langbroek said. He added: “we are perhaps witnessing the first real anti-satellite attack directly in orbit in the course of its preparation”. Langbroek is among the experts involved in the MH17 downing investigation and was the first to publicly point out that the Russian missile that shot down MH17 may have been detected by US early-warning satellites.
