Russian insurers provided 6 bln rubles in liability coverage for failed satellite launch
MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax) - Six Russian insurance companies provided a total of 6 billion rubles in liability coverage for the launch of a Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass navigation satellites that crashed soon after takeoff from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a representative of one of the companies involved in the agreement told Interfax.
"The overall liability limit is 6 billion rubles. Russian Insurance Centre carried about 90% of the liability, and the remainder of the limit was distributed among the other participants in equal amounts of 100 million rubles," he said.
The other liability insurers were Sogaz , Ingosstrakh , Rosles, VSK and Uralsib .
The spokesman believes that Russian Insurance Centre reinsured more than 90% of the risk on the western market through international broker Malakut.
He also believes that the three Glonass-M navigation satellites that were destroyed in the crash were not insured.
The Proton-M rocket suddenly veered off course about ten seconds after takeoff, began to fall and exploded on impact at the cosmodrome.
The rocket, for the first time since 2011, was supposed to put the satellites into orbit to supplement the orbit group.
A source in the space industry told Interfax that the losses from the crash of the rocket and destruction of the three satellites are estimated at $200 million. "The cost of services to launch the payload with the Proton-M carrier rocket is estimated at $80 million-$100 million. The satellites could cost about the same amount," he said.
The price of one such satellite is about $100 million, according to rough estimates.
