Safety & Mission Assurance

OrbitExSpace Inc. ("OrbitExSpace", "we", "us") designs systems that must operate without rescue, resupply, or second chances. Safety and mission assurance are therefore not compliance exercises — they are core engineering disciplines. This page describes the principles that govern how we design, test, and validate our systems.

At the date of this statement, our work is at the terrestrial development stage. The principles below apply to our current engineering practice and will extend to future flight and on-orbit operations as our programs mature.

Mission assurance at OrbitExSpace means designing and testing so that the system will do what it is required to do, for as long as it is required to do it, in the environment it will face. We apply a disciplined, evidence-based approach: we trace requirements to design to test to evidence, and we do not declare a capability verified until we have the data to support it.

Where we lack evidence, we say so. We do not infer reliability from simulation alone, and we do not treat successful tests in benign conditions as proof of performance in extreme ones.

We maintain quality controls appropriate to the criticality of each system, including configuration management, controlled documentation, inspection, traceability of materials and processes, and nonconformance management. We apply standards such as ISO 9001 as a baseline and higher standards where the application demands them.

We design to applicable industry and military standards where appropriate, including selected IPC, ASME, ASTM, IEEE, and aerospace-specific standards. For future flight hardware, we will apply relevant NASA technical standards, military standards, and commercial space standards as appropriate to the application, and we will seek certification from the relevant authority before declaring a system flight-qualified.

Any future flight activity will be preceded by a flight safety analysis consistent with regulatory requirements, including quantitative and qualitative risk assessment, flight hazard analysis, and establishment of flight commit criteria. We will not fly a system that has not completed its safety analysis, and we will abort or delay a flight when commit criteria are not met.

Mission safety extends beyond launch to all phases of operation, including cruise, surface operations, and end-of-life. We design for safe failure modes, establish safing procedures, and provide the autonomy needed for a system to protect itself when human intervention is delayed or impossible.

Future payloads will be qualified for their intended environment and will comply with the requirements of the launch provider and the relevant authority. We will not integrate a payload that has not passed its qualification and safety reviews.

Future spacecraft will be designed with redundancy, fault detection, and safe-mode capability appropriate to the mission. We will conduct environmental testing — thermal, vacuum, vibration, shock, and electromagnetic compatibility — to qualification levels before flight commitment.

OrbitExSpace is not a launch vehicle developer. Where we launch, we do so as a customer of a licensed launch provider and we comply with the provider's integration, safety, and operational requirements. We do not develop, manufacture, or operate orbital launch vehicles at this time.

OrbitExSpace is not currently engaged in human spaceflight. If and when our work extends to systems that support human presence, we will apply the heightened safety standards that human spaceflight demands, including crew-survivability analysis, failure tolerance for critical functions, and compliance with applicable human-rating requirements. We will not expose crew to unquantified risk.

Our current research and development is conducted on Earth, in controlled environments and at analogue field sites. We apply laboratory and field-safety protocols, hazard analysis for new tests, and stop-work authority for any participant who identifies an uncontrolled risk. We test to failure deliberately — and we do so safely.

We commit to operating, when we operate, in a manner that preserves the space environment and the safety of other operators. This includes debris mitigation, coordination of trajectories, transparent communication of intent, and design for disposal. We believe the long-term viability of space activity depends on every operator acting responsibly, and we intend to do our part.

OrbitExSpace Inc.
Los Angeles, California
safety@orbitexspace.com