Orion^[1^], a high-power Nd:glass laser facility, commenced user experiments in 2013^[2^]. It provides ten beamlines with 0.1–10 ns pulse duration (‘long pulse’), each with a specification of 500 J in 1 ns at 351 nm and two beamlines each with a specification of 500 J in 500 fs (‘short pulse’) at 1054 nm. To obtain increased temporal contrast, one of the latter beamlines may be frequency doubled. With the original capability^[3^] enhanced recently, up to 210 J in 500 fs is available at 527 nm^[4^]. For a programme of experiments at high energy density, laser pulses are delivered to a small target, positioned and synchronized to high accuracy.