Mission Report: ORC-2022-031 — Extended Duration

ByThe ORC Team
ORC-DISP-2022-031 · FILED 14 DEC 2022 · INVOICE SETTLED Q1 2023
ORC-DISP-2022-031 · FILED 14 DEC 2022 · INVOICE SETTLED Q1 2023
Mission Report: ORC-2022-031 — Extended Duration
MEO standard retrieval · S. Davies, lead · Planned 3.0 orbital periods · Completed in 7.1 · Administrative matter: documented separately
Outcome
COMPLETED
Duration
7.1 orbital periods
Overage
+4.1 periods
Invoice
Settled Q1 2023
FILED BY: C. MORRISON · APPROVED: N. OSEI · SUPP. LOG: RESTRICTED (N. OSEI+) · L. SANDHU: NOTED
01 / MISSION OVERVIEWVERIFIED
Mission refORC-2022-031
Object classMedium / defunct navigation satellite
ClientWithheld (NDA)
Orbital regimeMEO — 19,500 km
Lead technicianS. Davies
Planned duration3.0 orbital periods
Actual duration7.1 ORBITAL PERIODS — +4.1 over plan
Overage reasonSustained orbital perturbation & one administrative matter
Administrative matterDocumented. Access restricted to N. Osei and above.
Client kept informedYes — 48-hour intervals per service agreement
Mission outcomeCOMPLETED · object retrieved and deorbited per client spec
Invoice statusSettled Q1 2023 — after follow-up
PERIOD
CLASS
STATUS SUMMARY
VERDICT
OP 1
Transit
Departure, transit, initial approach. Object located at predicted coordinates.
NOMINAL
Transit completed without incident. Object located at predicted coordinates. Initial approach velocity nominal. S. Davies confirmed object visually at 340m. Attitude: slow retrograde tumble, consistent with catalogue data. Retrieval sequence initiated. OP 2 commenced on schedule.
OP 2
Approach 1
Retrieval attempt 1. Docking arm deployed. Sequence aborted at 8m.
INCOMPLETE
Docking arm deployed at 12m. At 8m, object tumble rate increased by a factor of 3.2 without apparent cause. Retrieval sequence aborted per safety protocol. No damage to ORC equipment. S. Davies withdrew to safe distance. Sustained orbital perturbation identified. P. Patel (Mission Planning) notified. Revised approach profile calculated. OP 3 allocated.
OP 3
Approach 2
Revised approach profile. Docking arm anomalous mass reading at 6m. Sequence paused.
INCOMPLETE
Revised approach implemented. At 6m, docking arm registered a mass distribution reading inconsistent with catalogue specification. S. Davies paused the sequence. P. Patel was notified. N. Osei was notified. Gary was notified. Gary asked what a mass distribution anomaly meant in practice. This was explained. The explanation took some time. A third approach profile was calculated. The client was informed at the 48-hour interval and confirmed that everything was fine, they said.
OP 4–5
Admin
Administrative matter. See restricted supplementary log.
RESTRICTED
██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ORBITAL PERIODS 4–5 — ACCESS RESTRICTED — N. OSEI AUTHORISATION REQUIRED — REF: ORC-2022-031-ADMIN-SUPP
OP 6
Approach 3
Mission resumed. Object attitude stabilised. Third approach. Object contact confirmed.
NOMINAL
Mission resumed. Object attitude had stabilised considerably during the administrative period. Third approach profile implemented without complication. Object contact confirmed at 14:32 UTC. Retrieval sequence completed. Object secured. Readings normal. S. Davies confirmed retrieval. P. Patel confirmed fuel reserves within revised tolerance (61% consumed). N. Osei informed. Gary informed. Gary expressed relief. Deorbit burn initiated.
OP 7.1
Return
Return transit, deorbit, confirmation.
COMPLETE
OBJECT: SECURED
DEORBIT BURN: COMPLETE · PER CLIENT SPECIFICATION
REENTRY: CONFIRMED · SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN ZONE 4
FUEL REMAINING: 23%
EQUIPMENT STATUS: NOMINAL
CREW STATUS: NOMINAL
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE — S. DAVIES: Mission was a challenge. Handled correctly throughout. No further comment. — S.D.
03 / MANAGING DIRECTOR’S NOTEGARY’S OWN WORDS
“This one was a challenge. The team handled it well. The administrative situation during orbital periods four and five was unexpected and required careful management. I would like to note for the record that S. Davies conducted himself throughout with the professionalism that characterises his work at ORC. Particularly Davies.” — G. PURCELL, MANAGING DIRECTOR · MISSION CLOSE-OUT NOTE · ORC-2022-031 · DECEMBER 2022

The 4.1 period overage was invoiced at the standard day rate per the service agreement. The invoice was settled in Q1 2023 following one follow-up communication. The amount was correct. The matter is closed.

ACCESS NOTE The supplementary administrative log for orbital periods 4 and 5 (ORC-2022-031-ADMIN-SUPP) is held separately and is restricted to N. Osei and above. Requests should be directed to L. Sandhu. L. Sandhu will note the request.
Operations log Our services
END OF REPORT · ORC-DISP-2022-031 · MISSION: CLOSED · SUPP. LOG: RESTRICTED · DAVIES: FINE · ORS/L/2011/0042

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