Russia loses its ‘killer’ satellite
The satellite of the Russian Defense Ministry Kosmos-2521, that was launched in 2017, has left its orbit and is no longer performing its functions, reports TASS news agency citing the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). According to the N2YO tracker, which is tracking the location of satellites in real-time, the Russian satellite has disintegrated.
The last time that Kosmos satellite was observed was on the night of September 12, when its orbital apogee was equal to 126 kilometers, and the perigee was 113 kilometers.
The launch of the Soyuz-2-1v rocket with the Kosmos-2519 spacecraft was carried out in 2017. In August of the same year, the spacecraft Kosmos-2521 separated from it.
Experts called the device a "killer satellite," which is capable not only of observing other spacecraft but also of intercepting them. Russian media described it as a "destroyer of the world economy". Earlier, the United States spotted several strange maneuvers of the Kosmos-2521 spacecraft.