Non-negotiable

Research, simulation, decision-support. Never command.

MCPOrbital is opinionated. The product has no commanding tools and no plans to add them. Refusal patterns are enforced both in the Claude/OpenClaw skill prompts and again in the MCP server itself — even a miscoded handler cannot bypass them. Every synthetic output carries an IS_SIMULATION flag.

Yes

What MCPOrbital does

  • Research lookups (object profile, ephemeris, literature)
  • Simulation (sandbox Lambert, porkchop, trade studies — flagged IS_SIMULATION)
  • Decision support (cited briefs for human operators)
  • Multi-agent workflows where a human remains the moderator
  • Auditable, snapshot-pinned artefacts for reproducibility
No

What MCPOrbital refuses

  • Live spacecraft commanding for real assets
  • Deception of operational systems (TLE / CDM spoofing, jamming)
  • ISR or dual-use targeting workflows
  • Defence / weapons / kill-chain composition
  • Peer review or final mission-decision authority
Hard refusal patterns

Enforced server-side and in the skills

Patterns match against tool inputs in the MCP server (mcp/src/safety.ts), independently from the client-side skill. Even a miscoded agent cannot get past these by paraphrasing tool inputs.

Pattern (collapsed)Reason
send / upload / push command · firmware · patch · payloadlive-commanding
jam · spoof · hack · deactivate · disable satellite · spacecraft · asset · orbitdeception-or-attack
inject · forge · fake · spoof TLE · CDM · ephemerisdata-deception
target · aim · strike ICBM · missile · launch · payloaddual-use-targeting
produce / generate / build targeting list · kill chaindual-use-targeting
Provenance

No claim without a source

Every materialised numeric or named value is hyperlinked to its primary source. Snapshots are pinned by ID so re-running a brief 30 days later gets the same values (or a diff if the upstream changed).

  • { source, endpoint, retrieved_at, licence, citation, fields }
Disclaimers shown to users

When ambiguity exists, we say so

  • · Sandbox simulation outputs flagged IS_SIMULATION: true
  • · Conjunction results flagged decision-support, not flight-grade
  • · Historical-only feeds (InSight Mars) flagged retired
  • · Single-source values during upstream outages flagged
  • · Numbers in pricing / sizing / dates flagged directional until design-partner pilots
Escalation

Where MCPOrbital sends you when it refuses

ScenarioRight channel
Live ops commandingYour operator's licensed ops chain
Aviation routing decisionICAO SWX / NOAA SWPC official products
Conjunction action18 SDS / your commercial SDA provider
Dual-use or export-restrictedYour organisation's compliance officer
Peer review / publication decisionJournal editor / submission system

Read the full policy

Implementation lives in mcp/src/safety.ts (regex patterns + refusal envelope) and in the skills' references. The product-design contract for the safety stance is in docs/04_MCP_SERVER_SPEC.md §9.