It is a discreet Russian satellite, known as Louch (or Olymp). Launched in 2014, the craft was quickly reported sniffing a bit too close to the US operator Intelsat satellites located in the geostationary orbit (36,000 km from the Earth). It was just an aperitif. Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly revealed Friday (September 7th) that this three-ton satellite approached “a little too close” in 2017, the French military satellite Athena-Fidus, dedicated to secure military communications. “So much so that one would have thought it was trying to capture our communications,” said the minister ironically, visiting the Space Center Toulouse CNES, the French space agency. Before sending a clear message to Moscow: “Attempting to listen to your neighbors is not only unfriendly, it is an act of espionage, we have taken the necessary measures, and we are watching closely. ”
This attempt at spying by a satellite “toineur”, the term consecrated, is far from being a first. For the past ten years, space has become heavily militarized. A true “arsenalisation”, according to the cabinet of the minister, which will force France to completely rethink the protection of its satellites, civil and military. “We know very well that other very large space powers deploy intriguing objects into orbit, experiment with potentially offensive capabilities, conduct maneuvers that leave little doubt about their aggressive vocation,” said Florence Parly. against these threats, we are in danger if we do not react. ”
What are these threats? First of all, there are the search satellites, like the famous Louch, who come to be placed in the satellite transmission cones in an attempt to capture the communications. “There is also the possibility of personnel corruption of ground stations, installation of spyware, and the use of satellites able to deorb our own with mechanical arms,” says one at Florence’s office Parly, which also evokes lasers capable of saturating the sensors of satellites, telecommunications cell phone jammer and, ultimately, weapons capable of destroying spacecraft (lasers, electromagnetic pulse weapons, anti-satellite missiles).
These scenarios have nothing of the sci-fi movie: in 2007, China had destroyed one of its old satellites with a missile to demonstrate its offensive space capability, which had generated tens of thousands of debris. The United States responded by doing the same in 2008. A “war of stars”, a term used by Florence Parly in her speech, is clearly no longer excluded. “The United States, China and Russia are convinced that there may be an interest in destroying space systems,” says Xavier Pasco, director of the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS). space deterrence: anyone who looks for them in orbit will pay a heavy price.) Donald Trump even ordered the Pentagon, last June, to create by 2020 a Space Force, sixth branch of the armed forces .