ORC Attempted This Retrieval Three Times Before Succeeding. By The Third Attempt, It Felt Personal.
Reg was deployed on 08 September 2022 for a standard S-01 retrieval at 541 km. The approach was nominal. P. Patel confirmed proximity lock at 14 metres. Reg closed to 0.8 metres. At 0.8 metres, the primary capture arm actuator failed. The actuator — Reg’s left primary — had completed 847 successful capture operations. This was capture operation 848. The actuator had passed a full inspection 12 days prior. The inspection showed no anomalies. The actuator failed completely at 0.8 metres from the target object. S. Okafor, reviewing the failure data later, described it as [REDACTED].
Reg was recalled. The actuator was replaced. The replacement actuator was a new unit, direct from the manufacturer. Inspection confirmed full operational status. A second deployment was scheduled.
Reg was redeployed on 04 October 2022 with the replacement actuator. The approach was nominal. P. Patel confirmed proximity lock at 14 metres. Reg closed to 2.2 metres. At this point, the target object — which had been in a stable, predictable attitude state since the mission began — executed a spontaneous attitude change of approximately 40 degrees. Dr. Chen reviewed the telemetry immediately. The object had no operational propulsion. It had no attitude control system. It was, per the characterisation data, a “passive decommissioned body with zero active systems.”
Dr. Chen said: [REDACTED]. The object’s new attitude was outside Patience’s capture envelope. Reg was held at safe distance for 44 minutes while the object restabilised. The restabilised attitude was not suitable for the planned approach geometry. Reg was recalled for trajectory replanning.
Following a complete replanning of the approach geometry and a 4-week stand-down to inspect Reg after the attempt 2 hold manoeuvres, Reg was redeployed on 02 November 2022. The new approach geometry accounted for the thermal attitude variability. The approach was nominal. The object was stable. P. Patel confirmed proximity lock at 14 metres. Reg closed. At 3.1 metres from the target object, Reg was struck by a small piece of untracked debris — estimated mass 8 grams — that impacted the starboard attitude thruster assembly. The debris was untracked. It was not in any catalogue. It was, in orbital terms, [REDACTED].
The thruster damage was minor but affected Reg’s approach stability. The mission was aborted. Reg returned to Hangar 7. The repair took 11 days. M. Hargreaves called a meeting. The meeting was described by A. Kowalski, in a message to P. Patel, as [REDACTED].
Reg was redeployed on 01 December 2022. Every component had been inspected. The approach window was selected for minimum debris density. The approach geometry was triple-checked by Dr. Chen, P. Patel, and S. Okafor independently. S. Okafor drove to Hangar 7 to inspect Reg in person before deployment. S. Okafor does not drive to Hangar 7 for standard pre-mission inspections. This was not a standard pre-mission inspection.
Reg reached proximity lock at 14 metres. The object was stable. Nothing failed. At 0.8 metres — the exact distance at which the actuator had failed on attempt 1 — Reg held position for 11 seconds. P. Patel later said she [REDACTED]. Reg closed. The capture arm engaged. Capture was confirmed. The object was secured. Re-entry was confirmed on 14 December 2022 over the South Pacific. Mission complete.
M. Hargreaves was in the ops room. A. Kowalski was in the ops room. P. Patel was at the ground station. S. Okafor was at Hangar 7. Dr. Chen was at his desk. When re-entry was confirmed, M. Hargreaves said one word. The word was: [REDACTED].
- Reg’s capture arm inspection protocol has been extended from 12 days to 7 days for missions involving new or unusual object geometries. The extension was not specifically triggered by the actuator failure, which had no identifiable cause. It was triggered by S. Okafor’s expression during the post-attempt-1 debrief.
- Dr. Chen’s combined-probability calculation for the three failures (1 in 14,400,000) has been filed in the mission record. The calculation has also been printed and pinned to the wall above A. Kowalski’s desk. A. Kowalski did this himself. A. Kowalski says it is a reminder to remain humble in the face of statistics. We consider this a reasonable interpretation.
- The target object in ORC-2022-441 has been given an informal internal designation. The designation was proposed by P. Patel following attempt 3. The designation is not publishable. It is, we are told, accurate.
- The client was informed of the three failed attempts and their causes. The client said: “I had no idea it was that complicated.” M. Hargreaves said: “It usually isn’t.” This is true. It usually isn’t.