Gary Sellars • 10 hours agoThis article leaves obvious questions unasked. Is Olmp-K is a recognised slot, and has that slot been allocated for Russian use? I gather it must be, else the article would say so? Therefore what the #$%& is the problem??? Geo-stationary orbit is getting crowded these days, so unless those infernal Ruskies are stealing someone else's pre-allocated orbital slot, i don't see what the fuss is about. [Emphasis added]
Good catch. One reason they might run the story even if the Russians took a nominally open slot is the close approaches - 10 km to the neighboring satellites and 5 km to a different unnamed satellite.
From the article:
Five kilometers is extremely close for geosynchronous satellites and usually requires satellite operators to closely work together to minimize the chance of a collision.