Russian, Japanese satellites to come within 200 meters of each other on May 19 - TASS

Russia’s Kanopus-V 5 remote sensing satellite and a Japanese earth observation satellite, ASNARO, may come within 200 meters of each other early on May 19, a spokesperson for Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation told TASS on Tuesday.

"According to information obtained from the Main Data and Analysis Center of the Automated Warning System of Hazardous Situations in the Near-Earth Space, satellites Kanopus-V 5 (Russia) and ASNARO (Japan) may come within the distance of approximately 200 meters of each other at approximately 4:00 a.m. Moscow time on May 19," the Roscosmos press service said.

The approach is being monitored by the Main Data and Analysis Center.

Kanopus-V 5 was launched from the Vostochny space center in Russia’s Far East on December 27, 2018. Japan’s ASNARO satellite was put into the orbit by a Dnepr carrier rocket on November 6, 2014.

Head of the Information Analytical Center at the Central Research Institute of Machine-Building (TsNIIMash, part of the space agency Roscosmos) Igor Bakaras told TASS last week that the Automated Warning System of Hazardous Situations in the Near-Earth Space registers about 3-10 potentially dangerous approaches of Russian satellites and other space objects every day.