Instead of running silent and deep, most satellites easily stand out against the blackness of space.
Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav The world’s leading space powers desperately want to know what the others are up to high above the equator. For more than a decade, the US military has operated a fleet of “inspector” satellites designed to sidle up to other spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit and take pictures. China started launching its satellites for a similar mission in 2018.
Ars has written about these activities in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) before, but the last few months have seen a couple of interesting developments. First, Russia has now joined the fray with the recent arrival of its own suspected inspector (or attack) satellite in GEO. Second, the US Space Force is poised to order more—perhaps many more—reconnaissance satellites of its own to send into the geosynchronous belt.
GEO is special. The laws of orbital mechanics mean a satellite in this type of orbit, some 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) over the equator, moves around the Earth at the same rate as the planet’s rotation, causing it to hover over the same location. Commercial and military-owned geosynchronous satellites typically spend years in the same location, or slot, to provide communications services to users.
Until now, Russia’s spying in geosynchronous orbit has primarily focused on eavesdropping on foreign communications. Russia launched two satellites, Olymp or Luch , to wander around geosynchronous orbit, moving from slot to slot to loiter near Western-owned communications satellites for several months at a time. The goal, according to Western analysts, was to listen in on or potentially jam signals relayed through these satellites, some of which route secure communications for US and NATO military forces.
The trend today is geared toward reconnaissance and surveillance in GEO. Military forces and intelligence agencies want to know where other satellites are located, what they look like, and what they’re capable of doing. The US military’s Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites, which began launching in 2014, do exactly this by roaming the geosynchronous belt, using propulsive maneuvers to make slight changes to altitude and inclination to move within a few dozen miles of Chinese and Russian satellites, close enough for optical telescopes to get a good look.
The Space Force has often compared the GSSAP satellites to a “neighborhood watch” in geosynchronous orbit. For example, one GSSAP satellite positioned itself near a pair of Chinese spacecraft performing a first-of-its-kind refueling demonstration in geosynchronous orbit last year.
China has launched multiple satellites capable of similar maneuvers. One of these satellites, named TJS-10, is currently flying relatively close to a nuclear-hardened US Space Force strategic communications satellite and a US missile warning platform, according to an update this week in the Integrity Flash newsletter published by ISR University.
Ready Player Three A new kind of Russian satellite is now in the mix. This satellite, officially known as Kosmos 2589, was launched in June 2025 into a highly elliptical orbit alongside a smaller spacecraft designated Kosmos 2590. The two satellites performed a series of high-altitude rendezvous and proximity operations with one another before Kosmos 2589 began moving toward a more circular geosynchronous orbit, where it arrived in April.
One of the US military’s GSSAP satellites was waiting for it. The US inspector spacecraft is now looping around Kosmos 2589, swinging near the newly arrived Russian satellite twice per day, coming as close as 8 miles (13 kilometers) on May 1, according to data from COMSPOC , a commercial space situational awareness company. The exact purpose of Kosmos 2589 remains unclear. Some Western officials suspect it is a higher-altitude version of Russia’s Nivelir anti-satellite system , which has been tested in low-Earth orbit and is now becoming operational.
The video below, published by COMSPOC, shows the orbital dance between a GSSAP satellite named USA-325 and Kosmos 2589.
👀USA 325 keeps an eye on COSMOS 2589 as it settles into GEO COSMOS 2589 🇷🇺 (launched last June) spent the past few weeks circularizing its orbit before parking at ~98°E. USA 325 🇺🇸 (GSSAP-6) was watching the whole time.
Things got interesting around April 19th when COSMOS 2589… pic.twitter.com/bFmXVrpX2c — COMSPOC_OPS (@COMSPOC_OPS) May 5, 2026 All this cat-and-mouse maneuvering has made the US Space Force prioritize geosynchronous surveillance and reconnaissance. The activity is not unlike the way US and Soviet submarines tailed one another in the Cold War, but instead of running silent and running deep, highly reflective satellites easily stand out against the inky blackness of space.
“One of the dynamics of the current geosynchronous cat-and-mouse activity is your desired imaging target may try to run away from you, and as it goes away from you, may even turn around, and then get a good look at you,” said retired Lt. Gen. John Shaw, a former deputy commander of US Space Command.
It is not surprising that US commanders wanted to get a look at Kosmos 2589 as soon as it arrived in GEO, Shaw told Ars.
“One of the current tactics each side uses is to try to look at a potential target when it first arrives on orbit,” he said. “It’s sort of like an airplane just coming off the runway, because it’s still trying to orient and get checked out for operations. All of this is visible to amateur astronomers and sky watchers. What we need to do is evolve our own practice to the point where we don’t need that checkout period, and we can start maneuvering immediately. I expect others will do the same.” Fuel limitations on the GSSAP satellites, made by Northrop Grumman, force US commanders to think twice about sending them off to look at every shiny new object that arrives in GEO.
“We want to be able to maneuver for advantage,” said Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of US Space Command, in an event Tuesday hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “And there’s a number of technologies that could enable that.
“The Marines have a great definition of maneuver warfare that it’s about shattering your enemy’s will and cohesion through rapid and disruptive acts, spatially, temporally, psychologically,” Whiting said. “I want to be able to do that. I want to be able to tell that young captain sitting at a space operation squadron, ‘Hey, you can fly that satellite like you stole it for advantage, not like our sweet grandmother who’s trying to go to church on Sunday morning … that’s where we find ourselves today because of this limiting factor of the fuel.” The program that will follow GSSAP, known as RG-XX or Andromeda , will use cheaper, refuelable satellites to patrol geosynchronous orbit. The new satellites will help the Space Force gain “predictive battlespace awareness” enabling “offensive and defensive space operations,” Space Systems Command said in a press release.
The RG-XX satellites will help US forces study “adversary strategies, tactics, intentions, and capabilities, while also supporting anomaly resolution on blue force systems,” Space Systems Command said. “These efforts will also secure and maintain space superiority at scale in 2030 and beyond.” The Space Force hasn’t said how many RG-XX satellites it will buy, but the program will use a “proliferated architecture,” a term that, at least in low-Earth orbit, can mean many dozens or hundreds of satellites. The Space Force has fewer than eight GSSAP satellites active today.
Earlier this year, Space Systems Command selected Anduril Industries, Astranis Space Technologies, BAE Systems, General Atomics, Intuitive Machines, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Millennium Space Systems, Northrop Grumman, Quantum Space, Redwire, Sierra Space, True Anomaly, and Turion Space as potential suppliers for the RG-XX/Andromeda program.
Stephen Clark Space Reporter Stephen Clark Space Reporter Stephen Clark is a space reporter at Ars Technica, covering private space companies and the world’s space agencies. Stephen writes about the nexus of technology, science, policy, and business on and off the planet.
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