The Commission Originated At A Trade Exhibition. A Man Came To Our Stand At 14:22 On A Thursday.

ByThe ORC Team
ORC DISPATCH · MISSION REPORT · ORC-2023-307 · CLEARED FOR EXTERNAL PUBLICATION · EXHIBITION LOG RETAINED · A. KOWALSKI: MENTIONED THROUGHOUT
MISSION REF / ORC-2023-307 · FILED 22 NOV 2023 · PUBLISHED 23 MAY 2026
The Commission Originated At A Trade Exhibition. A Man Came To Our Stand At 14:22 On A Thursday.
LEO Standard Retrieval · S-01 · ORC-V2 “Reg” · Oct–Nov 2023 · Origin: UK Space Conference, Manchester, Stand C-14
Mission outcome
Success
Time from stand to quote
3 working days
Time from quote to contract
11 working days
Branded pens distributed
1
APPROVED: M. HARGREAVES · LEGAL: L. SANDHU · NOTE: M. HARGREAVES MANNED THE STAND. A. KOWALSKI ASSISTED. THE EXHIBITION PRODUCED ONE QUALIFIED LEAD. THE ONE QUALIFIED LEAD BECAME A CLIENT. THE CLIENT IS NOW ON A FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT. WE CONSIDER THIS A GOOD THURSDAY.
STAND LOG · UK SPACE CONFERENCE · MANCHESTER · STAND C-14 · THURSDAY 12 OCTOBER 2023
ORC attended the UK Space Conference for the second time in 2023. Stand C-14 comprised a pull-up banner, a small display case, a brochure rack, two chairs, and a bowl of ORC-branded mints. M. Hargreaves manned the stand from 09:00. A. Kowalski arrived at 11:15 with a second folding chair and an apology for the traffic. The following log covers the interaction from which ORC-2023-307 originated.
14:22
VISITOR
A man in a lanyard stopped at the stand. He picked up a brochure. He put it back. He picked up a mint. He read the banner. He said: “Do you actually do this?”
M. Hargreaves’ stand log, entry 1: “Visitor. Sceptical opening. This is normal.”
14:22
M.H.
M. Hargreaves said: “Yes.”
M. Hargreaves’ stand log, entry 2: “Confirmed.”
14:23
VISITOR
The visitor said: “Like, you go up and get them? Physically?”
14:23
M.H.
M. Hargreaves said: “Yes. Our vehicles perform physical capture and controlled deorbit. It’s what we do.” M. Hargreaves offered the visitor the second chair. The visitor sat down.
A. Kowalski’s stand log, entry 1: “He sat down. That’s usually a good sign.”
14:24–14:51
VISITOR
The visitor described his situation. He operated a communications satellite that had experienced a propulsion failure in 2021 and was now drifting in a degraded orbit at 668 km. His organisation had been discussing remediation options for two years. Two conferences, three working groups, and one inconclusive report later, nothing had been done. He had a regulatory end-of-life deadline approaching. He had not heard of ORC before seeing the banner.
M. Hargreaves’ stand log, entry 3: “Client. Genuine problem. Two years of meetings, zero action. Familiar pattern.”
14:51
M.H.
M. Hargreaves asked three questions: the satellite’s current TLE, its approximate mass, and the regulatory deadline. The visitor had the TLE on his phone. He did not know the mass offhand but said he could get it. The deadline was [REDACTED].
14:52
VISITOR
The visitor said he didn’t have a business card because he’d run out by Tuesday. He wrote his email address on the back of an ORC brochure. He took a mint. He took a second mint. He picked up a branded pen from the display. He said, “Can I take this?”
A. Kowalski’s stand log, entry 2: “He asked about the pen. Honestly, he could have just taken it. But he asked. That’s a good sign too.”
14:52
M.H.
M. Hargreaves said yes.
14:53
VISITOR
The visitor shook M. Hargreaves’ hand and A. Kowalski’s hand. He said: “I’ll send you the mass data. This has been the most useful conversation I’ve had at this conference.” He left.
M. Hargreaves’ stand log, final entry: “Departed. Will follow up. Stand interaction total time: 31 minutes. One pen given. One brochure taken. One qualified lead. Good Thursday.”

The visitor emailed his mass data at 08:44 the following morning. M. Hargreaves forwarded it to Dr. Chen with the TLE data at 08:51. Dr. Chen responded at 09:22 with a characterisation summary. L. Sandhu drafted a preliminary quote by end of day. The quote was sent to the client on 16 October 2023, three working days after the exhibition.

The client responded on 17 October with two questions: one about the surcharge structure and one about whether ORC could accommodate a specific update schedule. Both questions were answered the same day by A. Kowalski. The client said: “Right. Let’s do this.” The contract was signed on 31 October 2023, eleven working days after the initial quote. L. Sandhu noted the turnaround as [REDACTED].

02 / THE MISSIONSUCCESS

ORC-V2 “Reg” was deployed on 14 October 2023. The satellite was located at 668 km, mass confirmed at 312 kg, attitude state stable. Capture was completed on day 18. Re-entry was confirmed on 11 November 2023. Full documentation issued within 14 working days. The regulatory deadline was met with [REDACTED].

ORC attended the UK Space Conference in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, the stand produced three conversations and zero clients. In 2023, the stand produced fourteen conversations and one client. M. Hargreaves reviewed both outcomes after the 2023 conference and described the return on investment as [REDACTED].

ORC has not attended a third conference. The client from this report, however, mentioned ORC to two colleagues at a different conference in 2024. Both colleagues contacted ORC. One became a client. One did not, but sent a pleasant email. ORC considers the pleasant email a reasonable outcome from a second-order conference referral.

The branded pen given to the client at 14:52 on 12 October 2023 is still on the client’s desk. He mentioned it in a call with A. Kowalski in March 2025. A. Kowalski said he was glad the pen was useful. The client said he’d written the framework agreement terms in his notebook with it. A. Kowalski filed this in the client record under “positive engagement.” It remains there.

ORC STANDS ORC currently has no confirmed exhibition schedule for 2026. If you are organising a space industry event and would like ORC to attend, contact us via the contact page. We will bring the brochures. We will bring the mints. We have ordered more pens.
S-01 Standard Retrieval Request a quote
END OF REPORT · ORC-2023-307 · STAND: C-14 · DURATION: 31 MINUTES · PENS GIVEN: 1 · CLIENTS ACQUIRED: 1 · GOOD THURSDAY

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