American Military News by Loren Grush - Bloomberg News August 30, 2023
Viasat Inc. has more than $1 billion of orbiting satellites in trouble, and space insurers are girding for market-rattling claims.
The company’s roughly $1 billion ViaSat-3 Americas satellite, central to expanding its fixed-broadband coverage and fending off rivals including Elon Musk’s Starlink, suffered an unexpected problem as it deployed its antenna in orbit in April. Should Viasat declare it a total loss, industry executives estimate the claim would reach a record-breaking $420 million and, in turn, make it harder — and more expensive — for other satellite operators to get insurance.
Because of the financial risk associated with insuring such an expensive satellite, ViaSat-3 is probably covered by several policies across different companies.
“No one single insurer wants to take the risk by itself,” said Denis Bensoussan, who heads the satellite insurance business for Beazley Insurance, a syndicate of Lloyd’s of London, one of the panel of insurers for ViaSat-3. No other major insurer was willing to publicly disclose its role as an underwriter of the satellite.
Viasat on Aug. 24 reported another stricken spacecraft, saying its Inmarsat-6 F2 satellite launched in February suffered a power problem. The failure may end the craft’s useful life and result in a $350 million insurance claim, Space Intel Report said.
Viasat’s troubles in orbit come a few years after big-name insurers like American International Group Inc. and Allianz SE have shuttered their space portfolios. That’s left a smaller pool of providers to absorb the risks in the notoriously high-stakes $553 million market.
While major telecommunication firms with multimillion-dollar satellites still desire coverage, other space operators focused on launching large batches of smaller satellites into low-Earth orbit — such as Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — aren’t doing the same. To them, the loss of one satellite isn’t a major issue.
Viasat executives said it’s too early to speculate on whether it will file a claim.
“There’s no consequences to us taking another couple or three months to get good measurements and then making those decisions,” Viasat’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Dankberg told analysts on Aug. 9 after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly results.
More:
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/08/billion-dollar-satellite-risks-upending-space-insurance/
