For decades, space activity has captured our collective imagination, but the reality of space commercialisation has shunned the spotlight.

Historically, space activities were the exclusive domain of government funded projects. However, technological advancements and innovation by the telecommunications industry have facilitated market entry by a growing number of private participants, with prominent players including SpaceX and Blue Origin.

Currently, the main commercial space activities involve the use of satellites across a wide arrange of industries including television, telecommunications, internet broadband services, military, navigation and surveillance.

Space projects are inherently capital intensive and carry significant risks. Space insurance in its formative years emerged to cover the risks relating to launch following a number of high profile launch and post separation satellite failures in the 1990s.

However, the space insurance class has evolved into a complex and unique sector of insurance and it is difficult to find its equivalent in terms of risks, insured objects, technical challenges and sums covered.

The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of space insurance. We outline the different space insurance coverages, examine some of the unique challenges and risks, and provide some thoughts on commercial opportunities in this emerging area.

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