We recently heard that a Russian satellite called Luch-2 ("Luch" meaning ray in Russian) had a close approach with another satellite while in geostationary orbit. Geostationary orbits are inhabited by our navigation, communication, and meteorological satellites. The suspicion? That Luch-2 was eavesdropping on a communications satellite.
It's only a couple of months since the US accused Russia of launching a satellite – Cosmos 2576 – capable of attacking other satellites. Cosmos 2576 was injected into the same orbit as US government hardware. Now, Russia has said that this is fake news, but I have to point out that Luch-1, the predecessor of Luch-2, was well known for conducting suspicious manoeuvres that looked a lot like spying.
Sadly, I'm not surprised by any of this, and indeed expect more of it in the future. It's just unfortunate that we have to militarise space as well as Earth.
