(The Sun)
Harry Pettit Sep 27, 2019 12:23
RUSSIA has launched another of its secretive spy satellites designed to silently track nukes fired from the US.
Hurled into orbit from a launchpad in northeast Russia, the probe can detect long-range missiles the moment they launch and record their progress across the sky.
It's the third such satellite to be deployed by Russia since 2015 as part of plans to build a network of warhead-tracking space tech.
The satellite sailed beyond our atmosphere atop a Soyuz rocket launched from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Thursday.
A statement from the Russian Defense Ministry did not identify the top-secret payload.
However, information about the mission's trajectory released in warning notices to pilots and mariners suggested the satellite was likely the third Tundra missile warning satellite for the Russian military, reports SpaceFlightNow.
Little is known about the Tundra satellite system, as Moscow keeps it tightly under wraps.
It forms a key part of its military's defense tech, and replaces an older missile detection system known as Oko, which Russia inherited from the Soviet Union.
Tundra primarily acts as an early warning system so Russian officials can react to potential threats quickly.
Each satellite carries infrared telescopes that detect and track heat sources that could be missiles.
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