Image: The Verge/Alex Castro
The Department of Defense believes that Russia may have tested out a new technology in space that could be used to destroy other satellites already in orbit. This particular test didn’t destroy anything, but military officials are worried it could be used to target US satellites in the future.
On July 15th, a Russian satellite called Kosmos 2543 released an unknown object into orbit, according to US Space Command, which is responsible for tracking all the objects currently in orbit. The satellite released this mysterious object near another Russian satellite, though no pieces came in contact with one another. At the time of the test, the Russian Defense Ministry admitted that Kosmos 2543 was going to come close to a target satellite to…