Russian Satellite Trio Just Dropped Something Weird in Orbit

Russia launched three secretive satellites into orbit earlier this year, and they appear to have recently released a mysterious object. The satellites’ unusual maneuvers have reignited concerns that Russia may be testing military capabilities in space—or even preparing for space warfare. The trio of satellites—designated Kosmos 2581, 2582, and 2583—launched on February 2 aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. Russia hasn’t declared the purpose of the satellites, but the secretive launch raised suspicion that they are military in nature. Last month, the U.S. Space Force cataloged a new object nearby, which may have been released by one of the satellites, Kosmos 2583, on March 18, Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center, who tracks objects in orbit, wrote on X. It’s not clear what the mystery object is doing in space, but U.S. officials are worried that both Russia and China are carrying out secret military training missions in low Earth orbit, according to a CNN ... Read full article.