Satellite Network and Other Equipment - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2017	Jun. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2017
Property Plant And Equipment [Line Items]
Depreciation and amortization expense	$ 11,842	$ 11,400	$ 24,065	$ 22,422
Amortization of internal-use software	836	1,485	1,772	2,835
Products and Services and Internal-use Software [Member]
Property Plant And Equipment [Line Items]
Company capitalized internal costs attributable to design, development and enhancements of Company's products and services and internal-use software	3,267	3,374	7,074	6,610
Fixed Assets [Member]
Property Plant And Equipment [Line Items]
Depreciation and amortization expense	$ 8,615	$ 8,710	$ 17,557	$ 17,040
Depreciation and amortization expense percentage related to cost of services	50.00%	62.00%	49.00%	64.00%
Depreciation and amortization expense percentage related to cost of product sales	9.00%	8.00%	10.00%	8.00%

Amortization of internal use software.

No definition available.

Name:	orbc_AmortizationOfInternalUseSoftware
Namespace Prefix:	orbc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Capitalized internal costs.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	orbc_CapitalizedInternalCosts
Namespace Prefix:	orbc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Depreciation and amortization expense percentage related to cost of product sales.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	orbc_DepreciationAndAmortizationExpensePercentageRelatedToCostOfProductSales
Namespace Prefix:	orbc_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Depreciation and amortization expense percentage related To cost of services.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	orbc_DepreciationAndAmortizationExpensePercentageRelatedToCostOfServices
Namespace Prefix:	orbc_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The current period expense charged against earnings on long-lived, physical assets not used in production, and which are not intended for resale, to allocate or recognize the cost of such assets over their useful lives; or to record the reduction in book value of an intangible asset over the benefit period of such asset; or to reflect consumption during the period of an asset that is not used in production.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 360
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6391035&loc=d3e2868-110229

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109223946&loc=d3e3602-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DepreciationAndAmortization
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=orbc_ProductsAndServicesAndInternalUseSoftwareMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=orbc_FixedAssetsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: