From a re-purposed Air Force bus, to a new reconfigurable NASA sensor, to the commercial ride-share launch service, the ORS-6 mission is a model of how flexible architecture, agile management, and creative engineering adjustments to heritage instruments can deliver first rate weather data with significant cost and schedule savings. The Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer (COWVR) payload will measure ocean surface wind vectors at a comparable resolution and measurement accuracy to the WindSat radiometer on Coriolis, while using an order of magnitude lower power and mass. By adding polarimetric electronics and rotating capabilities to the Advanced Microwave Radiometer (AMR) flown on the Jason 1, 2, and 3 satellites, the COWVR instrument leverages years of heritage design, keeping non-recurring engineering costs down and reducing risk. Operationally Responsive Space will fly COWVR on a bus originally built for a mid-inclination, LEO, synthetic aperture radar mission. Because the bus was made with the Modular Space Vehicle architecture, a meld of both Space Plug-n-Play Avionics and Integrated System Engineering Team bus standards, it requires only a few moderate modifications to accommodate the new COWVR Payload in a higher altitude, high inclination, sun-synchronous orbit. Launching in the fall of 2017, ORS-6 will provide operational-like capabilities to the US Air Force weather program while space demonstrating the new bus and payload technology. This paper highlights how the modular construction of the bus allows for timely reconfiguration, assembly, and integration with the payload. Additionally, we present an overview of the COWVR instrument capabilities and how it will serve as a partial gap filler to the Air Force’s Weather System Follow-On program. We emphasize how ORS-6 represents exciting possibilities for future space missions in terms of adaptability, cost savings management, and technological innovation
