Something shady give out on at a late Russian skyrocket launching , according to news report .
At the crack of dawn last Friday , November 30 , a Russian rocket salad nail off from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia . According to an announcement by theMinistry of Defence of the Russian Federation , the Rockot - class space launch vehicle was place to bear a cluster of three military satellites into orbit .
However , it appears that an extra unknown target might have deploy too .
Anatoly Zak – space journalist and publisher ofRussianSpaceWeb – reports that the North American Aerospace Defense Command ( NORAD ) registered five objects resulting from the launching . One of these extra objective is the rocket salad ’s upper point , but Zak mull that the 5th object could be a maneuverable planet .
While not needfully suspect in itself , talk of manoeuvrable satellites sounds a lot likethe controversy andenduring mystery story of Object 2014 - 28Efour year ago .
Before we get into that , here are a few potential scenarios . It is possible that the upper phase brokeapart into multiple pieces that were then chase as an independent object . However , according to the Russian United States Department of State news agencyTASS , the Defense Ministry made no mention of reported hiccup with the take - off , declaring the launch a winner . Kommersant , a liberal Russian paper , also reported that the surplus object was actually a harmless dummy satellite that occupy the seat of the Blits - M satellite that was n’t quick to establish .
Nevertheless , as previously mention , the paranoia and confusedness about this physical object are not on the button unfounded considering Russia has antecedently been accuse of launching sinister target in space . There was a mediocre amount of media attention skirt Object 2014 - 28E , or Kosmos 2499 , a mysterious Russia planet , equal to of perform strange powered maneuvers , that was launch along with three military communicating satellites in May 2014 .
Many mull that the object was part of an anti - satellite program plan to disable rival satellite for strategical military purposes . Russia , however , kept unruffled on the matter . Even to this day , no one is quite sure what Object 2014 - 28E was or what it was doing .
While the concern was considered legitimate , Joan Johnson - Freese , a professor of national surety affairs at the US Naval War College , toldSpace.com : " Any artificial satellite with the potentiality to steer has the voltage to be a arm . But does that intend necessarily that all maneuverable satellites are weapons ? No . "
