Nov 19, 2014 03:41 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Russia's space agency is testing a satellite that may be capable of literally blowing its competition out of the sky.

According to BBC News, the Kosmos 2499 satellite has more practical uses of running down other satellites to repair them. But that would also mean the satellite is capable of tracking down its peers and disabling them.

Russia launched the satellite on Dec. 25, 2013 to perform routine maintenance work on existing satellites. In May, the Financial Times reported, Russia launched three Rodnik communication satellites to a military constellation, but told the U.N. they had launched four.

Even amateur satellite observers can see the satellite make mysterious maneuvers, one of which was running down the part of the rocket it separated from.

"I think this mission is a test, and you test these things with your own satellites, because if you do it with other peoples' they get upset. The Americans don't want bits of Russian hardware sitting alongside their satellites," Robert Christy, a satellite observer, told BBC News.

Both the U.S. and China have made similar tests, which require a certain degree of automation and artificial intelligence.

"The original satellite made some slight orbit adjustments, and then the other one copied them - keeping the distance the same. That suggests to me it's a test of rendezvous or chasing equipment. The satellite is probably self-controlling: if the target moves, it moves," Christy said. "The idea of the station-keeping is that if you're chasing my satellite, when you get near, I'll move it. So you've got to move at the same rate to catch up."

The Russian Space Agency did not respond to the Financial Times' request for comment, but a space security expert offered her take.

"Whatever it is, [Object 2014-28E] looks experimental," Patricia Lewis, research director at think-tank Chatham House, told the Times. "It could have a number of functions, some civilian and some military. One possibility is for some kind of grabber bar. Another would be kinetic pellets which shoot out at another satellite. Or possibly there could be a satellite-to-satellite cyber attack or jamming."

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