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Another satellite loss would be 'disastrous':expert

Posted On: Mar. 22, 2007 12:00 AM CST

MILAN—Another satellite loss this year could devastate the space insurance market, warned the organizer of the prominent 14th Biannual International Space Insurance Conference in Milan today.

There has already been one insured satellite loss of $250 million of a Boeing 702 satellite when a Sea Launch rocket exploded on the launch pad earlier this year. With global space insurance premiums only totalling an estimated $500 million by the end of 2007, "a second loss would be disastrous to the market," said Benito Pagnanelli, president of space consultant Pagnanelli Risk Solutions Ltd.

Viewing the space insurance market statistics in more detail, Chris Kunstadter, vice president and senior class underwriter for space for XL Insurance in New York, part of Hamilton Bermuda-based XL Capital Ltd., said that - with a $250 million loss in the first quarter and premiums of about $200 million at the same time - the space insurance market "is on track to have a marginal year at best." The conference continues until the end of the week.