particular, a recent study reported that the SPS, a central solar technology, might more reliably serve the energy needs of the aged than would decentralized solar technologies.45 Perhaps the least visible sector would be the future beneficiaries of space utilization that SPS capabilities would make possible. IV.5 Who win provide insurance for the SPS? For damage from occupational exposure, wandering beams and crashes a. la Sky Lab? A market for space insurance has been developing in the U.S. and England since launch of the first commercial satellites, in the '60's.46 As with other industries, the space industry has sought to protect itself from loss of investment; a space insurance market has developed that includes coverage for loss against R&D, manufacture, launch and operation of satellite systems. However, it appears that a satellite system with the scope of the SPS would challenge the existing space insurance industry. The SPS Project Office has therefore contracted a major space insurance broker to determine how the industry would respond to the SPS. The study is to (1) review the history of space insurance coverage; (2) identify SPS insurance risks by component (satellite, microwave power transmission system, etc.) and program phase (construction, operation, etc.); (3) identify the insurance industry response to the SPS; and (4) determine risks the insurance industry could indemnify and estimate the cost of coverage. The nation that develops an SPS would be liable, legally, for any damage that might occur, and would require private developers to insure the system. The 1972 multilateral Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects holds the launching state "liable to pay compensation for damage caused by its space object on the surface of the earth or to aircraft in flight." Were an international SPS developed, the states involved would be held jointly liable. _________________ Cambel, Ali, G.A. Heffernan. Implications of an Aging Society on Satellite Power System. The Office of Energy Programs, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, The George Washington University, December 1979. 46Barrett, James and Smith, Delbert, "The Role of Insurance in Expanding International Space Opportunity," paper presented at the Thirtieth International Astronautical Federation, Munich, Germany, September 1979.
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