Russian 'Inspector' spacecraft intercepted communications from a dozen European satellites, report claims — fears Moscow could even manipulate trajectories or crash satellites
An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter
European officials believe that two Russian “Inspector” SIGINT spacecraft operating in geostationary orbit have intercepted communications from at least a dozen European satellites. According to the Financial Times, both spacecraft have made “risky close approaches” to some of Europe’s most important satellites, which operate high above Earth and serve not only Europe but also parts of Africa and the Middle East.
The two Russian spacecraft are thought to be associated with the Luch program, with the intercepts taking place at roughly 22,000 miles above the Earth. Russian spacecraft have been shadowing European satellites more intensively over the past three-or-so years following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, and the Luch-1 and Luch-2 craft are known to have carried out several suspicious manoeuvres while in orbit.
Orbital data and ground-based telescopic observations reportedly show that the two craft have lingered nearby for several weeks at a time, with Luch-2 having approached 17 European satellites since its launch in 2023. Both satellites are said to have done “sigint [signals intelligence] business”, said Major General Michael Traut, head of the German military’s space command, in comments to the Financial Times.
Officials are concerned that sensitive information, such as command data for European satellites, is unencrypted and could therefore be intercepted because many were launched decades ago without advanced onboard computers. Once this command data has been recorded, it can potentially be replayed or spoofed later, enabling deliberate interference with things like altitude control, manipulating trajectory, and even causing satellites to crash. Even a limited disruption in geospatial orbit could have outsized effects, because satellites are packed into narrow orbital slots shared by multiple operators.
Aside from this, there is growing concern among European defense officials that activities like these actively blur the lines between intelligence gathering and active interference. Germany’s defense ministry has previously warned that Russian satellites were “shadowing” commercial platforms used by German forces and allies, and that even civilian communications satellites were being used as part of Russia’s military space operations.
Russia has naturally not publicly acknowledged the allegations and has repeatedly described its Inspector satellites as tools for monitoring the health of its own space assets. However, such activity would be decidedly on-brand for a country that continues to bait the West with disinformation bots, cyberattacks, drones, incursions into sovereign waters, and de facto attacks on undersea cables.
I was around in the 70s and 80s, during the nuclear 'fear' campaign. Mainstream media has attempted to go towards this a fair few times, over the years.
I wouldn't put it past ANY power to use whatever they like against whomever they like. Fear the Russians you say? Nah, fear your own government (who are probably controlled by the people that pay x or y).
This means, it is eventually possible that some superpower could cause most (if not all of its adversary's) satellites, military or not, to come crashing down at the start of a major conflict!
Time to bring those old junkers in to a decaying orbit and put up some modern replacements.
Ok yeah, your adversaries should play nice and not hack you insecure networks, but thats not an excuse to neglect the upgrades.
From another angle: if you find out two large medical companies are exchanging health records via insecure means and hackers have accessed them.. Who are you going to be mad at?
This means, it is eventually possible that some superpower could cause most (if not all of its adversary's) satellites, military or not, to come crashing down at the start of a major conflict!
European officials believe that two Russian “Inspector” SIGINT spacecraft operating in geostationary orbit have intercepted communications from at least a dozen European satellites.
Russian 'Inspector' spacecraft intercepted communications from a dozen European satellites, report claims — fears Moscow could even manipulate traj...: Read more
Ivan has been launching butt sniffs for over 40 years. Why is this news now?
Just last year the US NRO launched a eagle eye with a polar orbit and when it came up to Moscow on its first fly over, the Russians launched a Kosmos immediately from Plestesk and inserted itself directly behind the NRO platform.
The issue was the fact that the Russian launch was not registered and so the USSF thought it might be an interceptor to take out the NRO platform. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed. The Ivan tagged along for the ride still to this day.
But the war profits machine won't operate unless we can continue to drum up more anti-Russian fervor.
Characterizing this as "drumming up" seems like gaslighting.
A country which has actively engaged in these activities needs to be taken seriously:
The article said:
such activity would be decidedly on-brand for a country that continues to bait the West with disinformation bots, cyberattacks, drones, incursions into sovereign waters, and de facto attacks on undersea cables.
Or do you believe the official line that the "Inspector" satellite is really just there to look after Russia's own satellites?
