It was him February 5, 2022 when military personnel from the United States Space Command detected a Russian satellite that was behaving unusual. It was Cosmos 2553, leaving the Russian Plesetsk Cosmodrome and It was positioned 2,000 kilometers above the Earthin a distant orbit called ‘graveyard orbit’, where only ten satellites are found that are inactive. A strange choice, since it is usual for most satellites to be located in low Earth orbit and geostationary orbit. Since then, US intelligence has been monitoring it. And all this occurred a few weeks before the start of the war with Ukraine. Now, US officials have told The New York Times that andThis satellite carries a test warhead and serves as a precursor to an unprecedented weapon.
Experts emphasize that if becomes an active weapon, it could destroy the entire world’s orbiting satellite infrastructureeitherinterrupting communications, power plants, stock market operations or the operation of weather stations, in short everything that sustains the functioning of our planet. This nuclear weapon in space could eliminate groups of critical satellites at a time and leaving us vulnerable and blind.
The explanations for an unusual weapon
Darren McKnight, technical researcher at LeoLabs, told ‘Breaking Defense’ that the orbit chosen by Cosmos 2553 has the advantage that it allows experimentation without affecting other satellites and makes it more difficult for others to control everything it does. He also noted that such an orbit could be safer for long-term parking of a satellite carrying a dangerous nuclear payloadsince it would be less likely to be hit by debris or other satellites.
Moscow justified the deployment of Cosmos 2553 in a statement that did not convince experts from other countries. They said it only had the function of testing “onboard instruments and systems against radiation.” The reality for Americans is very different. Military personnel at the Joint Space Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs from various intelligence agencies told the Pentagon that what they believed they had found was a working model for Russia’s nuclear anti-satellite program that transmits data on how an operational weapon would work, if it were put into orbit.
“Russia, China and the United States have been testing different systems, for example Moscow has deployed Russian doll satellites (in which one satellite gives birth to a smaller satellite that is maneuverable and armed with a projectile) and China and the United States The US has grappling satellites, which can sneak up on another satellite and knock it out of orbit, But none of them come close to doing what a nuclear satellite does.», the technicians detail to NYT.
Although speculation continues about the type of weapons that Cosmos 2553 could use, reports from the US Government indicate that if it is a space nuclear weapon to affect not terrestrial targets, but to attack satellites in orbit, we would be talking about a co-orbital anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon. Which can create an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that would affect the operation of satellites from other countries.
What would a space nuclear weapon detonation be like?
This, together with the growing race to occupy the starting positions in the development of cutting-edge space weapons, has once again put the powers on alert. Donald Trump in his first term created the Space Forcea military arm that would protect his interests in space, after all, the magnate described space as the “newest domain in the world to fight war.” And Starlink, Elon Musk’s company, already has more than 6,000 satellites operating for more than 70 countries. This panorama together with Cosmos 2553 has made andn the upper echelons of Washington wonder what would happen in the event that a space nuclear weapon were detonated.
The analysts explain to the American media that if a nuclear weapon were detonated in space we would not be talking about a localized impact as occurs when a missile is fired, but rather The repercussion would be indiscriminate and would know no borders.
The NYT details that satellites in low Earth orbit have little protection and are deeply vulnerable to such an attack. In fact, the United States only conducted two tests to determine such an impact during the Cold War: Operation Argus and Operation Fishbowl. And in 1962, the call Starfish Primedestroyed a third of the two dozen satellites in orbit at the time.
Likewise, they explain that there would be no sound, no fire, or shock waves. There would be no mushroom clouds. “From the surface, people would see a bright light, followed by dazzling auroras generated by an explosion of electrons that collide with gases in the atmosphere. The detonation would disable and destroy everything in its immediate surroundings, “turning satellites into unguided projectiles that could collide with each other.”they point out.
The burst of intense radiation produced by the detonation would captured by the Earth’s magnetic field. «As they move away from the point of explosion, the charged particles would form a layer of radiation “which would remain there for weeks, if not years, long enough to gradually burn out the electronics of surviving satellites orbiting near Earth.” All of this has a widespread impact on supply chains and financial markets. lLow Earth orbit could be unusable for years and blackouts would be massive.
Don’t underestimate the signs
Pavel Podvig, a senior researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva, also sees Cosmos 2553 as a possible precursor to a space nuclear weapon. And he told the specialized media ‘Breaking Defense’: «My best guess at this moment is that there is an experiment that studies the shielding of various electronic equipment. The US Intelligence Community seems to believe that this equipment has something to do with a nuclear weapon. But It is almost impossible to prove or disprove it.”
Furthermore, in the face of this type of advance, countries take advantage of the fact that international treaties on the protection of space against the use of nuclear weapons have become obsolete. Meanwhile, the international alarm revolves around the warning that although the satellite in orbit does not represent an imminent danger, since it carries an unloaded warhead, it is still necessary not to underestimate the indications that are serving as breadcrumbs to find out what they are doing in Moscow.
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