Under a mission dubbed Kosmos-2558, the 14F150 Nivelir Russian satellite is currently on an orbital path that would place it suspiciously close to the US satellite known as USA-326. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Space journalist and publisher of RussianSpaceWeb.com, Anatoly Zak<\/a>, Tweeted about the launch of the probe on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His tweet suggests the satellite was launched as a payload<\/a> on the Soyuz-2.1v rocket from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This sparked rumours online that it will serve as an \u201cinspector\u201d satellite to covertly spy on nearby spacecraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 14F150 Nivelir satellite was deployed into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO). <\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s usually for satellites that travel over the polar regions of the globe so their orbital paths are synchronous with the Sun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, a statement by the Russian Ministry of Defense referred to it as a military satellite. Still, its exact purpose is still unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The news comes less than six months after two Russian space probes were reportedly stalking<\/a> a US<\/a> spy satellite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the commander of the US Space Force, Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, the pair of Russian satellites had come extremely close, within 100 miles of Amerca\u2019s shuttle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “We view this behaviour as unusual and disturbing,” Raymond told Time magazine<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It has the potential to create a dangerous situation in space.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Raymond said that the US government reached out to Moscow about the close range of the satellites, expressing concern “through diplomatic channels\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Russian news agency TASS dismissed the maneuver as nothing but a mere test, to investigate the “technical condition of domestic satellites\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n