A recent collision between Russian and U.S. satellites high above the Earth has been officially explained as something of a freak accident. However, a retired Russian general has suggested possible foul play by the Americans.
A flare from the Iridium 19 satellite caught on camera. Gadget Guru/Flickr.
Speaking with government-run press agency RIA Novosti, Maj. Gen. Leonid Shershnev, the former chief of Russia’s military space intelligence, claims the satellite collision could have been the result of the United States testing new space-weapon technology.
According to the official explanation surrounding the unfortunate crash, a communications satellite belonging to the U.S. and operated by Iridium was accidentally struck by an abandoned Russian satellite.
But Shershnev believes the U.S. bird was actually one of two experimental Orbital Express vehicles launched in 2007 and designed to connect and refuel other satellites.
The Orbital Express program, which was launched as a joint partnership between NASA and the Pentagon, has already been abandoned, but Shershnev offers that the U.S. has secretly continued developing its technology and is now able to perform the fully automated monitoring and inspection of all orbiting spacecraft.
According to a related FOXNews story on Shershnev’s claims, the general’s conspiracy theories even stretch to suggesting that the U.S. is now capable of manipulating foreign satellites, even causing their remote destruction, from a ground-based control centre.
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