US launches reconnaissance satellites into space to counter Russian space weapons

16 February, 2024 Launch of the Falcon 9 to launch satellites into orbit. Photo credits: SpaceX The United States began launching modern reconnaissance satellites after receiving information that Russia has special systems to intercept and destroy them.

The New York Times reported on this. The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, marked the beginning of new attempts by the United States to strengthen space exploration. First and foremost, it is aimed at tracking ballistic and hypersonic missile launches currently being carried out by Russia and China.

In addition, special attention is being paid to the deployment of nuclear weapons in space, which is currently unlikely on the part of Russia, but, as the U.S. Department of Defense notes, is real.

Ballistic missile launch by China. Photo credits: 81China

The system put into orbit on Wednesday was a prototype developed to test a new plan, named Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, that aims to blanket low-Earth orbit with hundreds of smaller, cheaper satellites.

The idea is that smaller satellites will be able to take over the control role in the event of the destruction of large control and reconnaissance satellites.

"For a long time, you could count our space constellations by the handful -- satellites the size of school buses that took decades to buy and build, years to launch," Kathleen H. Hicks, the deputy defense secretary, said.

But now, she said, the United States is shifting to "proliferated constellations of smaller, resilient, lower-cost satellites" that can "launch almost weekly."

The US Orion satellite. Photo credits: NASA

The U.S.

Department of Defense is now fully aware that in the event of a full-scale war with China and Russia, the first blow would be to the US communications and telecommunications systems. In addition, U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered negotiations with Russia to regulate and control space weapons in space.

Such regulation should create a parity of power and ensure overall control of weapons in space.

As Militarnyi reported, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), together with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has successfully launched the IGS-Optical 8 reconnaissance satellite into orbit.

The launch of the H-2A rocket took place from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex, the Tanegashima Space Center, located in Kagoshima Prefecture, on January 12, 2024 at 04:44:26 local time.