What is Russia Doing With its Rendezvous and Proximity Satellite Tests

Five years ago, [the author] provided an analysis of the rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) of two Chinese satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). (See “Dancing in the dark: The orbital rendezvous of SJ-12 and SJ-06F”, The Space Review, August 30, 2010.) The article compared the event with similar RPO activities by American and European satellites and concluded that even though there was evidence the two Chinese satellites “bumped” into each other, it was more likely to be the demonstration of an on-orbit satellite inspection capability than an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon. The article also highlighted the fact that RPO would be a significant policy challenge for the future of space security and stability. In 2013, another launch of three small Chinese satellites raised further concerns when one satellite began conducting another series of RPO with an older Chinese satellite, first in July 2013 and again in May 2014.

Although China’s RPO activities in space are still a significant concern for the US national security space community, Russian activities have recently become more of a concern as well. Four Russian space launches in 2013 and 2014 in particular have sparked interest. Three of the launches placed small Russian military satellites into LEO; two of those satellites have conducted RPO activities with Russian rocket stages, and one appears to have “bumped” into the rocket stage near which it was maneuvering. The fourth launch was a Russian military satellite to geostationary Earth orbit (GSO). In the one year since its launch, the satellite has moved several times to different positions in the GSO belt of active satellites. Two of those stops were somewhat close to newly launched Russian satellites, and the third was between and very close to two Intelsat commercial communications satellites.

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