Business · Ars Technica
US analysts concluded this was a projectile that could be fired at another satellite
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US officials have compared the Nivelir architecture to a Matryoshka doll, or a Russian nesting doll, with an outer shell concealing smaller, unknown figures inside.
Key facts
- The first Nivelir test mission launched in 2013, and they began creeping near US spy satellites in 2019
- Its launch was precisely timed for the moment Earth’s rotation spun Plesetsk underneath the orbital plane of the NRO’s USA 338 Keyhole-class optical spy satellite
- We’ve noted that the Chinese and the Russians have studied us since Desert Storm (in 1991),” Whiting said
- The Chinese, they have studied us deeply for 35 years, and really, they’re trying to replicate what we have done,” Whiting said
Summary
After several tests of unusual “nesting doll” satellites in low-Earth orbit, Russia is now fielding operational anti-satellite weapons with valuable US government satellites in their crosshairs, the four-star general leading US Space Command said this week. Stephen Whiting didn’t name the system, but he was almost certainly referring to a Russian military program named Nivelir, which has launched four satellites shadowing US spy satellites owned by the National Reconnaissance Office in low-Earth orbit. The newest suspected Nivelir satellite was launched last May from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. Ars has covered Russia’s testing of the Nivelir stalker satellites before.