Russia Launched Research Spacecraft for Antisatellite Nuclear Weapon Two Years Ago, U.S. Officials Say
Cosmos-2553 went into orbit in February 2022 just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine
WASHINGTON—Russia launched a satellite into space in February 2022 that is designed to test components for a potential antisatellite weapon that would carry a nuclear device, U.S. officials said.
The satellite that was launched doesn’t carry a nuclear weapon. But U.S. officials say it is linked to a continuing Russian nuclear antisatellite program that has been a growing worry for the Biden administration, Congress and experts outside government in recent months. The weapon, if deployed, would give Moscow the ability to destroy hundreds of satellites in low-Earth orbit with a nuclear blast.
The satellite in question, known as Cosmos-2553, was launched on Feb. 5, 2022, and is still traveling around the Earth in an unusual orbit. It has been secretly operating as a research and development platform for nonnuclear components of the new weapon system, which Russia has yet to deploy, other officials said.
Russia says that the spacecraft is intended for scientific research, a claim U.S. officials say isn’t plausible. Though the U.S. has been aware that Russia was interested in a nuclear antisatellite capability for years, it has only recently been able to better determine the program’s progress, U.S. officials have said.
The eventual weapon, if and when deployed in orbit, could wipe out satellites in a part of space dominated by American government and commercial assets, they said, including SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, which has proven critical for Ukraine’s war effort. SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Details about the research satellite, which haven’t been previously reported, clarify a recent frenzy in Washington over Russia’s nuclear space ambitions. It was triggered in February when Rep. Mike Turner (R., Ohio), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, issued a cryptic statement about an unspecified “serious national-security threat” to the U.S. and requested that President Biden declassify information around it.
The White House later confirmed publicly that Russia is pursuing what it called a “troubling” antisatellite capability. Officials characterized the matter as a serious concern, though one that didn’t present an active threat to Americans’ safety, as the weapon hadn’t been deployed in space and isn’t intended to attack targets on Earth.
One person familiar with the matter described the launched satellite as a “prototype” for a weapon, but others said the Russian program hadn’t progressed that far.
The Kremlin said in February that reports Russia is developing a nuclear antisatellite system are a fabrication. “Our position is clear and transparent: We have always been categorically against, and are now against, the placement of nuclear weapons in space,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said that month.
The U.S. and Japan sought to put Russia on the spot last month by asking the United Nations Security Council to vote on a resolution affirming the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which bans putting nuclear weapons in orbit. Russia vetoed the resolution, saying it failed to go far enough by not banning all types of space weapons.
U.S. efforts to discuss its concerns about the antisatellite program directly with Russian officials have also been rebuffed, U.S. officials say.
A Russian rocket launched Cosmos-2553 into orbit 19 days before Putin ordered his military to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. The spacecraft was “equipped with newly developed onboard instruments and systems for testing them under conditions of exposure to radiation and heavy charged particles,” Russia’s Ministry of Defense said, according to the state-controlled TASS news service.
Assistant Secretary of State Mallory Stewart, in public remarks earlier this month challenged that explanation, without identifying the specific satellite.
“The orbit is in a region not used by any other spacecraft—that in itself was somewhat unusual,” she said, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “And the orbit is a region of higher radiation than normal lower-Earth orbits, but not high enough of a radiation environment to allow accelerated testing of electronics, as Russia has described the purpose to be.”
Stewart said the U.S. “has been aware of Russia’s pursuit of this sort of capability dating back years, but only recently have we been able to make a more precise assessment of their progress.”
Cosmos-2553 is still in orbit, according to professional satellite trackers. Spokesmen for the U.S. intelligence community and the National Security Council declined to discuss the satellite or its relationship to Moscow’s antisatellite program.
U.S. intelligence officials have had concerns about Russia and Chinese space capabilities for decades, and have long viewed satellites as a vulnerable target in the event of a major conflict with either adversary. But those fears have grown more urgent in recent years as satellites have grown more integral to military capabilities and global communications systems.
The Pentagon has become increasingly reliant on commercial satellites, which unlike military and intelligence spacecraft, aren’t typically hardened to withstand intense radiation from a nuclear blast.
A Russian antisatellite nuclear device could be used to threaten spacecraft in low-Earth orbit, where U.S. companies and government agencies operate more satellites than any other country. As of the end of April, there were almost 6,700 American satellites operating in this part of space, according to space-data firm LeoLabs. China had 780 satellites there, while Russia had 149.
Most of the U.S. satellites are part of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite-internet network, while other companies have devices that capture data about activities on the ground. The Space Development Agency, part of the Space Force, is developing a new network of satellites to provide missile tracking and other military services in low-Earth orbit, generally defined as an altitude of no more than about 1,200 miles.
“This is the Cuban Missile Crisis in space,” Turner said of Russia’s plans in a recent interview.
For Pentagon officials focused on space, having swarms of satellites closer to Earth adds resilience, because if an adversary took out any single spacecraft, the overall network would still operate and provide capabilities to the military. But a Russian nuclear antisatellite device could change that equation.
John Plumb, a departing top space policy official in the Pentagon, said that use of the weapon would destroy or damage satellites that aren’t hardened against a nuclear detonation. He said the weapon could render low-Earth orbit unusable for some period, potentially for a year.
A nuclear weapon in space from Russia would be an “indiscriminate weapon,” Plumb recently told Congress. Such a weapon “doesn’t have national boundaries, doesn’t determine between military satellites, civilian satellites or commercial satellites.”