Satellite Cosmos 2495 did not explode over U.S. - Defense Ministry
MOSCOW. Sept 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Aerospace Defense Troops have denied that the space satellite Cosmos 2495 exploded over the territory of the U.S., Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin, an official with the Defense Ministry press service and information department told Interfax-AVN.
"All the Russian orbital group spacecraft are functioning on their calculated orbits and are under the stable control of the ground space control system of the Main Space Reconnaissance Center of the Space Command of the Aerospace Defense Troops. There are no problems or deviations in the operation of Russian spacecraft," he said.
"The statements by a United States Strategic Command official, saying the Russian spacecraft Cosmos 2495 crashed over U.S. territory are another attempt to determine the location of the Russian spacecraft, which they have lost," Zolotukhin said.
The Russian Main Center for Space Reconnaissance conducts global monitoring of the state for the spacecraft of the Russian orbital group and all spacecraft, including foreign, at altitudes of 120 to 40,000 kilometers, and permanently updates the orbital radar, optical, radiotechnical, and special information on these objects.
"And they do it practically in real time, not 'with a high degree of certainty,' like the United States Strategic Command does," he said.