Two years ago, Russia launched a satellite into space designed to test components for a potential antisatellite weapon that could carry a nuclear device, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.

While the satellite launched did not carry a nuclear weapon, U.S. officials told the Journal it is linked to a Russian nuclear antisatellite program that, if deployed, would give Moscow the ability to destroy hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit with a nuclear blast.

The satellite was launched in February 2022 and is still traveling around the Earth, according to the Journal. It has been secretly operating as a research and development platform for non-nuclear components of the new weapon system, not yet deployed by Russia, officials added to the paper.

Russia has claimed the spacecraft is for scientific research, which U.S. officials told the Journal is not plausible.

"Our position is clear and transparent: We have always been categorically against, and are now against, the placement of nuclear weapons in space," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in February.

The weapon could wipe out satellites like SpaceX's Starlink constellation which has boosted Ukraine's war effort, according to the report.

"This is the Cuban Missile Crisis in space," Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, told the Journal.

Last month, the U.S. and Japan asked the United Nations Security Council to vote on a resolution affirming a 1967 treaty that bans nuclear weapons in orbit, though it was vetoed by Russia. Russia also refused to meet with to U.S. about its concerns over the antisatellite program, U.S. officials told the Journal.

Russia's launch of the Cosmos-2553 came 19 days before Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

According to LeoLabs, there are 6,700 American satellites operating in low Earth orbit, while China has 780 satellites and Russia has 149.

Pentagon officials said having satellites closer to Earth is beneficial, since if an enemy took out a spacecraft, the overall network could still operate, though a nuclear antisatellite device could prevent that, the Journal reported.

A nuclear weapon in space could render low Earth orbit unusable potentially for a year, John Plumb, a space policy official in the Pentagon told the Journal.

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