Did Russia rehearse satellite attack? Expert on close encounter with western spacecraft

A Russian military satellite that moved dangerously close to a western commercial spacecraft last month may have been testing capabilities for a potential attack, a military space expert has warned.

Meanwhile, two other Russian satellites linked to the spacecraft are reportedly moving towards the orbital path of another western satellite, according to the Reuters.US under secretary of State Thomas DiNanno said in a post on X following the incident in mid-October that Russia's cosmos 2612 military satellite had been "intentionally maneuvering dangerously close to a commercial satellite".

He described the activity as being "consistent with on-orbit weapons operations".According to the news agency Reuters, the satellite targeted during the encounter, known as X36, is operated by Finnish company ICEYE.