RUSSIA has enraged the west by test-firing a weapon designed to knock out other satellites and "threaten the peaceful use of space".

The Kremlin's military push to use weapons in space puts "US and Allied space assets at serious risk", the US Space Command has warned.

Researchers said they have "evidence that Russia conducted a non-destructive test of a space-based anti-satellite weapon."

They said: "On July 15, Russia injected a new object into orbit from Cosmos 2543."

This is the same Russian satellite which was spotted earlier this year stalking spy satellite USA 245 – which snaps intelligence photos of Earth for the Pentagon.