Russian space experts have accused the United States of disabling a satellite during experimental tests last month. According to one unnamed space official quoted by the Russian Interfax news agency, communications were lost with the Russian satellite on 9 March just as the US was carrying out missile experiments.
| "Nope. Wudn't us. Have you checked with the Chinese?" |
A second Russian specialist, also unnamed, gave a different rationale, arguing it was affected by ground-based tests to knock out spacecraft through wave experiments.
The Russians insist they can find no other explanation for the sudden loss of communication with the probe, named Tatiana, which was launched two years ago and had been functioning normally until the abrupt halt of transmissions. They believe it was somehow disabled by the US experiments, since it has not broken up in space.
| Because Russian electronics are so high quality that they'd never go tango-uniform in space. |
There was an immediate and swift denial from various US military and space agencies of any role. The US strategic command and the Pentagon both rejected accusations of some form of physical strike by an American weapon on Tatiana.
No physical strikes. But hey, if we just aim our lasers in the sky, and a satellite happens to cross their path, who can say what would happen? |