Gaubert, Cécile --- "Insurance in the context of space activities" [2015] ELECD 263; in von der Dunk, Frans (ed), "Handbook of Space Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) 910

Book Title: Handbook of Space Law

Editor(s): von der Dunk, Frans

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781000359

Section: Chapter 17

Section Title: Insurance in the context of space activities

Author(s): Gaubert, Cécile

Number of pages: 39

Abstract/Description:

With the increasing privatization of space activities and concurrent increasing importance of properly handling issues of liability, also the issue of insurance becomes a major factor of importance in the conduct of space activities. Such insurance nowadays ideally has to cover pre-launch, launch, in-orbit operations phases as well as potential property and third-liability damage. Whilst insurance has developed a long and rich experience with valuable and mobile capital assets in other sectors such as aviation, the specifics of space activities and the hardware and operations involved call for substantial adaptation of such existing practices and, occasionally, the development of new practices. From a legal perspective, insurance is normally a matter essentially of contractual arrangements. In the context of space activities, however, the international character of many of those as well as the tendency of a number of states to provide binding parameters at least for insurance requirements in terms of third-party liabilities has caused insurance in some cases to be a matter de facto for international law, and de jure for national space legislation. Chapter 17 outlines the various types of insurance currently finding their way into insurance policies for the various phases and types of space or space-related activities, and outlines the specific ramifications both from an international and national legal perspective as appropriate, and in terms of contractual arrangements. There is a multiplicity of actors and associated risks for space activities. For the different phases of risks, manufacturing, storing, transportation, launching, satellite operations and suchlike, identified and specific liabilities exist for these actors, with which insurance solutions are associated – and in some cases have been specifically set up to take care of. Space insurance developed while the commercial use of launchers and satellites was growing. This development concerned not only the insurance covering damages to the satellite or launcher on the ground and in outer space but also insurance covering the liability of the space operator. Broadly speaking, there are two types of space insurance: one covering first-party property insurance and the other dealing with third-party liability insurance. The first one is a ‘launch and in-orbit’ insurance that protects the owner or operator of the impacted satellite in the event of loss or damage to the satellite during launch or in-orbit operation. The second is designed to address third-party liability of a launching agency or satellite operator/owner whose launcher, satellite or part thereof is considered accountable for damages caused to third parties during the space operation. Originally, satellite insurance only covered risks of damage to third parties or to the satellite itself only before launch, while the satellite was on the ground. The insurance market, at that time, did not intend to insure such a commensurate risk as space activities.