Satellites keep breaking up in space. Insurance won't cover them.

[Admin]

Cheap, uninsured satellites are creating more space junk — and it's starting to rain down on our heads.

Satellites keep breaking up in space. Insurance won't cover them. : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

When I read the headline, my mind went to the other articles about the superfluous stuff some people are paying to "send into space" such as human remains, cheap student experiments, etc.

But, this article is about the mainstream satellites such as Intelsat-33e. For some details on that one, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelsat_33e

That one exploded during its intended service life in high earth orbit, not LEO. And, it was not a cheap, superfluous device.

Although the article seems to imply that lack of insurance or inability to get insurance, is the problem, it seems to me that it is really only one of the symptoms of the real problem.

It really doesn't matter whether a satellite that fails or breaks up in orbit is insured - the same amount of junk is created as hazards to other satellites.

What is needed is regulations on reliability, including fines for not achieving some regulated level for the fraction of launched items being properly disposed of by controlled timely reentry.

Trying to achieve that through insurance carriers' requirements to get insurance, rather than direct governmental regulation, is an absurd thought. It simply won't work, even in the U.S., much less internationally.

We need treaties with standards and ways to at least try to enforce them. But, until there is a United Nations Satellite Removal Force, that is going to be problematic.