Luch beside Intelsat IS-37e
A satellite of Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii came up beside a satellite of Intelsat S.A., US headquarters, 4 km away at the nearest its sources state.
Reported: 3 public reports other than Orbinauts name these two.
From the public record
- From
- Sep 1, 2022
- to Mar 27, 2025
- Closest stated
- 4 km
- Oct 31, 2022
- Orbit
- GEO
- geostationary orbit, over 18.1° W
The one that moved
Luch
Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii, RU
40258 · 2014-058A · launched Sep 27, 2014
The one it came up to
Intelsat IS-37e
Intelsat S.A., US headquarters, United States
42950 · 2017-059A · launched Sep 29, 2017
What the sources state
Every day and distance here is the sources’ own, to the precision they state.
- When
- Sep 1, 2022 to Mar 27, 2025
- BesideSep 1, 2022
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2022: Luch maneuvers and lingers near Intelsat 37 for about 145 days
- Closest statedOct 31, 2022
- showing only a 4 km delta on October 31, 2022
- LeftMar 26, 2025 to Mar 27, 2025
- On ~26 Mar 2025, Russian space operators lowered Luch/Olymp K1's average altitude creating an eastward 0.52 degree per day drift
The detector was not yet running: it reads low Earth orbit since April 2026 and the geostationary belt since October 2026.
Reported elsewhere
Who else said these two were together, earliest first.
| Said on | Who | What |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 14, 2023 | Institute | Bingen, Johnson, Young, Raymond, Space Threat Assessment 2023, CSIS, 14 April 2023, timeline |
| Apr 17, 2023 | Tracker | Michael Clonts, "Espionage in Orbit: Satellite or Spy?", Kratos, 17 April 2023 |
| Apr 7, 2025 | Tracker | Integrity ISR, Integrity Flash issue 118, 7 April 2025 |