Mysterious maneuvering orbital object is technological test flight - expert
MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax-AVN) - Western media buzz about the appearance of a Russian spacecraft in orbit dubbed as 'satellite killer' is politically motivated and has nothing in common with reality, a Russian space equipment expert told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
"This mini-satellite weighing up to 50 kilos can only be an experimental demonstrator using which some high technology is being tested," the expert said.
The said reports in Western media started appearing after space agencies of a number of foreign countries and foreign astronomers found out that, after the launch of a Rockot space vehicle from the Plesetsk space center on May 23, there were not only the three declared Rodnik military communications satellites but also a fourth object in orbit, which the U.S. Space Surveillance Network originally perceived as a fragment of space debris.
