About ORC
Registered in England and Wales. Operational since 2011. We retrieve things from space. It is, genuinely, our job. People ask us if we are serious. We are always serious.
How we got here
ORC was founded in 2011 by Marcus Hargreaves and Sarah Okonkwo, both of whom had spent the better part of their careers watching the orbital environment get steadily worse and finding the industry’s response — which was, broadly, to hold conferences about it — insufficient.
The original business plan was written on a train between Brecksworth and London Paddington. It has not changed materially since. The core proposition was simple: someone needed to actually go and get the stuff. Not study it. Not model it. Not publish papers recommending that others consider getting it at some future point. Get it.
We launched our first retrieval vehicle in 2013 and completed our first commercial mission in 2014. We have not missed a scheduled re-entry window since 2017, which was a learning experience we do not discuss publicly. The object came down in the right ocean. That is the extent of what we will say about 2017.
We are based in Brecksworth and at Hangar 7, Aeropark Estate, Trevannick, which is where the vehicles live. Brecksworth is where the paperwork lives. This arrangement suits everyone, including the vehicles.
The way we operate
Small by design
We have 31 people. We have not grown faster than we can absorb. Every person who works here knows what every mission currently in progress is and why. There is no layer of management between the client and the engineer responsible for the mission. We intend to keep it this way. We have been told this does not scale. We have noted this feedback.
No portals
When a mission is live, clients have a named operations lead and a mobile number. Not a dashboard. Not an automated status email. A person who knows the mission and will pick up the phone. OCELOT, our client enquiry system, is currently offline due to a situation involving a courier and a recycling facility. We consider this an operational inconvenience rather than a philosophical shift.
Boring where it counts
Our quality management system is SMS 9200 certified. Our orbital safety system is ORS 4401 certified. Our conjunction analysis is performed in-house and cross-verified against independent tracking sources before every mission. We do not find this sort of thing exciting. We find it necessary. There is a difference, and we think about it more than most people would expect.
We price honestly
Our quotes are fixed-price unless the scope changes materially. We have never invoiced a client more than the quoted amount without their prior agreement. We have occasionally invoiced less. We mention this not to seem virtuous but because it has come up in reference calls and we prefer to address it directly rather than let clients be surprised by it.
We say no when we should
We have declined contracts. Because the geometry was wrong. Because the timeline was not realistic. Because the client wanted us to do something we considered irresponsible — and in one case, something that was not legal in the jurisdiction where the object was located. We are not in a position to take every job. We have found that being clear about this early saves considerable difficulty later. The client in the last example found this out the hard way.
71% of clients return
We do not know precisely why clients come back. We assume it is because the work was done properly, the documentation was thorough, and nobody at ORC pretended to know something they did not. That seems to be rarer than it ought to be in this industry. We are content to benefit from the gap while it remains.
Certifications & memberships
We hold the following certifications and memberships. They are audited externally on the schedules noted. We list them not to impress procurement teams — though procurement teams do ask for them, which is why they are here — but because we consider them evidence of a minimum standard of seriousness, which we hold ourselves to regardless of whether anyone is checking.
| Credential | Scope | Audited |
|---|---|---|
| ORS 4401 | Orbital safety management | Annually |
| SMS 9200 | Space management system | Annually |
| IMS 7100 | Information security | Annually |
| ORS/L/0042 | Licensed operator (launch) | Per mission |
| COSRAT | Member | Ongoing |
| UNOORI | Registered operator | Ongoing |
| IORC | Observer status | Annual review |
| ORS Supply Register | Approved supplier | Ongoing |
Registered details
| Registered name | Orbital Recovery Crew Ltd |
| Company number | 12847563 |
| Licence reference | ORS/L/2011/0042 |
| Jurisdiction | England and Wales |
| Registered office | Unit 14, Telford House, Orbital Park Estate, Brecksworth, OX11 9ZZ |
| Operations centre | Hangar 7, Aeropark Estate, Trevannick, TR8 9ZZ |
| Insurance | £250m third-party indemnity (never claimed, knock on wood) |
Where we are
Hangar 7, Aeropark Estate
Aeropark Estate, Trevannick, TR8 9ZZ. Our primary operating base and home to the fleet. Vehicle maintenance, mission preparation, post-mission processing, and most of the people who actually do the work. The canteen is adequate. The views of the runway are good. We have been meaning to repaint the exterior since 2022. This has not happened yet.
TREVANNICK, TR8 9ZZ
UNITED KINGDOM
Orbital Park Estate
Unit 14, Telford House, Orbital Park Estate, Brecksworth, OX11 9ZZ. Registered office, finance, regulatory, legal, and senior leadership. Approximately 40 minutes from Oxford by road. Accessible by rail, though the connection at Brecksworth Junction requires patience. Parking is free, which we consider one of our more significant operational advantages over central London-based competitors.
ORBITAL PARK ESTATE
BRECKSWORTH, OX11 9ZZ
UNITED KINGDOM
Got something up there you’d like brought down?
We aim to respond to all enquiries within two working days. Longer if it is the kind of enquiry that requires us to think carefully before replying. You will know which kind it is.