Orbital

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Orbital is one of three maps in the Mythic Map Pack designed for Halo 3. Orbital, along with Assembly and Sandbox, ships with the Limited Edition of Halo Wars. It was released on Xbox Live Marketplace with the two other Mythic maps on April 9, 2009.

Trivia

A battle on Orbital.

File:Orbital galaxy.jpg

A band of the Milky Way Galaxy, as seen from Orbital.

• This map's codename was originally "Moonbase Alpha", then later changed to "Space Camp". The map's official name was then changed to be "Orbital".
• This map was first shown in Game Informer's story on Halo 3: ODST.
• Orbital is the first map in Halo 3 to be set in space. Also, through use of glitches, Orbital offers an opportunity for players to experience direct exposure to space in Halo 3, except for the Valhalla Banshee glitch found only in the Halo 3 Beta. In Halo: Combat Evolved, Boarding Action is the only map open to space, and in Halo 2, the initial campaign level Cairo Station and the maps Elongation and Midship were the only maps to allow this.
• Some of the computer monitors across the map make reference to Cairo Station.
• The view of Earth on some of the monitors is actually a screenshot from one of the Halo 2 trailers.
• The cast of Red vs. Blue was given permission by Bungie to play on the map and post videos of it on their website before it's official release. As it turns out it is extremely similar in shape to the Halo: CE map Longest and the Halo 2 multiplayer level Elongation. It is believed these two maps were inspiration for Orbital.
• Orbital is the first ever map in the Halo franchise to take place inside a Space Elevator.
• The male that can be heard over the intercom is Bungie environment artist Chris Carney.
• It appears that Orbital is hovering above the continent of Asia, although the real-life city of Quito is in Ecuador, South America.
• Several terminals within Orbital have schedules on them labeled with the names of several notable locations in the Halo series, for example: Charybdis IX and Gilgamesh.
• The lift at the bottom of the shaft has a total of 7 flashing lights, a possible 7 reference.
• Orbital is the only map in Halo 3 where you can see a Halcyon-class Cruiser which can be found on the Fujikawa sides of the commemorative murals.
• By the escalator at red base, a newspaper clipping can be found on the floor reading, "Covenant on Earth!"
• Many players have escaped from Orbital via the windows. Using teleporters, players can find their way to an invisible floor above the map, that allows the player to walk around. The death barriers above the map kill players instantly, but they are easy to avoid once a player determines their locations.
• On the various screens around the map there are text boxes containing the standard Lorem Ipsum text.
• There is a secret room just under and to the left of the rocket spawn.
• When looking at Orbital's heatmap, it can be noted that there is a small room located outside of the playable area.
• At both entries, there are signs that say "Welcome" written in many languages. This shows that many of today's languages are still spoken in 2552.
• Some of the smaller screens in the tether show an image of two mongooses, even if you remove the mongooses, the image will stay the same.
• Orbital makes an appearance in the Epilogue of Halo 3: ODST, titled as an ONI orbital facility. This does not reflect the station's actual fate, as the map was simply used to save resources.

Gallery

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  An escalator leading towards another chamber, and on the wall is the tribute to Tobias Fleming Shaw.

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  A loading dock with Sniper Rifle in sight.

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  Another hallway with two Mongooses in sight.

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  A hallway with vegetation on the wall, as well as two information tubes displaying "Welcome" in several languages.

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  The main control station.

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  Orbital Heatmap.

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  The surface below.

• AveryMaurice.jpg

  A Spartan-II passing by a window in Orbital.