(Washington) The United States on Thursday accused Russia of testing an anti-satellite weapon launched from space, but Moscow denies it, calling the object a "special instrument" for space inspection.
Either way, the maneuver means for Washington a rare military escalation in space.
The ability of one satellite to attack another was until now theoretical. Only strikes from the ground had been demonstrated by the United States, Russia, China in 924 and India in 2018, but these explosions create thousands of debris and the great powers abstain to repeat these tests.
The Russian incident could be a message to Washington, in the process of setting up the new Space Force, decided by Donald Trump for the stated purpose of domination. Its boss, General Jay Raymond, repeated his credo on Friday: "Space is a theater of war like air, land and sea."
PHOTO NICHOLAS KAMM, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Donald Trump signed the directive ordering the Pentagon to draft a bill creating a new Space Force, on 15 February 2019 .
"Object E" 89184577
In November 2018, Russia launched a satellite, called Cosmos 2542. Surprised, the following week, this satellite released a sub-satellite, Cosmos 2542, capable of maneuvering in orbit to observe, inspect or spy on other satellites.
This sub-satellite has approached an American spy satellite (USA - 200), and another Russian satellite, an orbiting cat-and-mouse game easily observable from the ground by astronomers and the US military, which is publicly alarmed.
On 15 July to 7:00 a.m. 46 GMT (3:00 a.m. 50, HE), Cosmos 2543 (the sub-satellite, which is less than a square meter in area, according to the US military), released an object at a high relative speed, of the order of 200 meters per second, estimates astronomer Jonathan McDowell. Called "object E" by the Americans, it is still in orbit today and does not seem to have struck anything (in 2013, the same scenario had occurred with another Russian aircraft).
We do not know its size, shape and nature, but that does not change its dangerousness.
A ball "
In orbit, satellites spin in a vacuum at tens of thousands of kilometers per hour, and the slightest shock between a satellite and an object can pierce a solar panel or damage or destroy the entire machine, depending on the object size.
In space, the difference between satellite and weapon is therefore theoretical: whatever its function, object E is de facto a "projectile" and therefore a "weapon", say the Americans.
It's the equivalent of a "bullet" in space, said Christopher Ford of the State Department on Friday. "Up there, there is never a little clash."
Moscow, by the way, has implicitly acknowledged this by accusing Washington and London of having inspection or repair satellite programs that can be diverted to become "anti-satellite weapons".
The United States does have maneuverable military satellites in orbit, which can unleash smaller satellites. In 2017, France complained that a Russian satellite came closer to one of its satellites military to spy on it (for example to see the technologies on board), but an American satellite had approached this same Russian satellite a few days before.
It is not known whether the Americans have the ability to send high-speed projectiles like the Russians just did, Brian Weeden, space security specialist at the Secure World Foundation in Washington, told AFP. . "But they probably could, if they wanted to."
Americans very dependent on space
"The Russians might want to send a strategic message about the vulnerability of American systems," continues Brian Weeden. Spy satellites are huge, extremely expensive and few in number, he says.
"Russia does not depend on its satellites as much as the United States, and Russian satellites are nowhere near as expensive," the expert adds.
This is what the head of the Space Force repeated on Friday: since the Gulf War, everything in the American army, from planes to infantrymen, depends on space, for navigation, communications, intelligence.
"Everything we do [...] incorporates space at every step," General Raymond said.
Americans and Russians will have the opportunity to talk about it directly next week in Vienna for their first space security meeting since 2013.