The Russian satellite COSMOS 2612 has been hovering near the U.S. ICEYE-X36 imaging satellite in recent months. It was reported to be within a few km from ICEYE-X36 yesterday, at ~550 km altitude.
COSMOS 2612 was launched on 16 Apr 2026.
ICEYE satellites also provides imagery to Ukraine’s military.
Space wars?
csis.org/analysis/could-russia…
yahoo.com/news/us/articles/rus…
1/n
Russia nears U.S. satellite, raising alarm about intent
A Russian satellite was tracked on Friday closely stalking a U.S.-owned commercial satellite — part of a space-based network that has supported Ukraine's military.Thomas Novelly (Yahoo News)
This entry was edited (Sunday, October 18, 2026, 11:00 PM)
reshared this
AkaSci 🛰️
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️ • • •The ICEYE X series of satellites are X-band SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) microsatellites, designed by the Finnish ICEYE startup company.
ICEYE-X36 is owned by ICEYE USA.
At least four Russian military satellites were stalking ICEYE-X36 in May of this year.
ICEYE also provides imagery to Ukraine’s military.
space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ic…
arstechnica.com/space/2026/05/…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICEYE
2/n
ICEYE X4, ..., X67
Gunter's Space Pagereshared this
Florian Schmidt, Su_G and The November Man ☯️🇺🇦🏳️🌈 reshared this.
AkaSci 🛰️
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️ • • •According to calculations by Dr Marco Langbroek, the COSMOS 2612 (aka KOSMOS 2612) and ICEYE-X36 are already with 1-2 km of each other.
By early morning tomorrow, KOSMOS 2612 might approach ICEYE-X36 to within a few meters.
"That is very worrisome. This RPO (Rendezvous and Proximity Operation) is completely non-consensual.
So I wonder and worry whether we are perhaps watching a first actual on-orbit ASAT attack in the making here."
Or perhaps a jamming exercise?
sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2026/…
3/n
KOSMOS 2612 and ICEYE-X36: a worrisome cat-and-mouse-game in Space
sattrackcam.blogspot.comreshared this
PG1958WILLNOTCOMPLY 🇺🇸🇷🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸, lord pthenq1, [empty], Prof. Sam Lawler, Daniel Fischer, Witch Of Scots, Florian Schmidt, Geraint, Arthur van der Harg, Su_G and The November Man ☯️🇺🇦🏳️🌈 reshared this.
Jean-François Mezei
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️ • • •Kosmos will photobomb ICEEYE, place itself in front of a camera and present a surface containing a photo of Vlad riding horse with naked torso. 😀
If there is no contact or jamming, would photobombing the satellite by orbiting 1m below it constitute an ilegal operation?
Su_G reshared this.
Su_G
in reply to Jean-François Mezei • • •@jfmezei
Yes, a heroic Vlad the Bad photobombing opportunity is the most likely reason why “the Russian military satellite COSMOS 2612 will come within 21 m of the U.S. imaging satellite ICEYE-X36” [as per @AkaSci earlier post - it is now safely distant again].📸
While it made me laugh (thank you! 🙏🏻 Black humour is always good, a relief 😅 ) this worrying situation has been on my mind since I first read about it in the sleepless wee small hours this morning. Enough so that I hunted up later news… 😬
Oh to not have to worry about what the Russians or the Thump administration are doing! 😕
#satellites #nearMiss #photobombing #KOSMOS2612 #USPol #Russia #Ruzzia
Jean-François Mezei
in reply to Su_G • • •@Su_G I think Russians would want to first demonstrate what they could do if they really needed it. The way they did it , and updating the public TLEs so people could see it get closer points to Russia wanting the west to know about it.
Had they wanted to disable the ICEYE, they would have moved their satellite quickly done the deed and then back off before releasing new TLEs.
This appears to be coordinated stunt with the Trump regime crippling Starlink and intelligence at same time
Su_G reshared this.
Su_G
in reply to Jean-François Mezei • • •@jfmezei
Thank you so much for sharing that it appears to be a coordinated stunt… convincingly plausible now I think about it. 🙂
Ashamed to admit I did not know what a TLE** was or why it might be important.
Proud of myself that I was able to persist with broken-search to find out… below looks like a good intro.
Suspect we’re all going to learn a lot more about satellites in the near future; that is, if one (or ten, or a hundred! There are SO MANY up there? doesn’t fall on us first. (Did the Chinese call for their missing bit yet? - more black humour, sorry)
** = two-line element set
orbitalradar.com/blog/tle-form…
@AkaSci
#satellites #RuzzianStunt #RussianStunt #PutinIsATerrorist #TrumpIsAWeakSadOldBaby
Understanding TLE Format: A Comprehensive Guide | Orbital Radar
Orbital Radar Newsroom (Orbital Radar)AkaSci 🛰️
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️ • • •According to this simulation at Orbital Radar, the Russian military satellite COSMOS 2612 will come within 21 m of the U.S. imaging satellite ICEYE-X36 at 10:26 UTC tomorrow 18 October 2026.
orbitalradar.com/satellite-man…
4/n
Satellite Maneuver Tracker: Live RPO & Proximity Alerts
Orbital Radarreshared this
Florian Schmidt, salix sericea (@Ripple13216), linjari, Ilkka Tengvall and Ville 'cos' R reshared this.
Ilkka Tengvall
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️ • • •I've seen this before....
Kähisijäahon Pää-Äljy
in reply to Ilkka Tengvall • • •COSMOS 2612 ⟷ ICEYE-X36: 73 m close approach
Orbital RadarAkaSci 🛰️
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️ • • •Update from Dr Langbroek -
"Based on new orbital elements for both ICEYE-X36 and KOSMOS 2612, there seems to have been a close approach early on the 18th, possibly around 1:35 UTC, to within a few 100 m or possibly (much) closer. There are indications in the orbital elements for KOSMOS 2612 that it made one or more small maneuvers around that time.
No indications that ICEYE-X36 was affected/disturbed in its orbit. Affect on functionality - only users can tell us."
sattrackcam.blogspot.com/
5/n
SatTrackCam Leiden (b)log
sattrackcam.blogspot.comreshared this
F4GRX Sébastien ⸚ and lord pthenq1 reshared this.
MidgePhoto
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️ • • •AkaSci 🛰️
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️ • • •Update: Cosmos 2612 appears to have maneuvered away from the ICEYE-X36 satellite after its close approach yesterday.
As of 7:32 UTC, their separation was ~292 km.
6/n
🇪🇺 Paul Schoonhoven 🍋🍉 reshared this.
Sebastian Lasse
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️ • • •It is pretty scary …
digitalcourage.social/@sl007/1…
Sebastian Lasse
2026-10-19 14:10:27
reshared this
Su_G and The November Man ☯️🇺🇦🏳️🌈 reshared this.
Sebastian Lasse
in reply to Sebastian Lasse • • •In general, current close cross-border encounters are scary …
orbitalradar.com/conjunctions
Satellite Conjunction Archive: Notable Close Approaches
Orbital RadarTor Lillqvist
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️ • • •