It’s been reported that reinsurer Munich Re is one of the insurers for the failed European Vega rocket on July 10th, 2019.
The 15th launch of the European Vega rocket ended in disaster shortly after blast off with commercial space firm Arianespace, which markets the Vega rocket system, confirming mission failure after nine minutes.
The rocket was developed by the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency, and was carrying a military observation satellite that was to be placed into orbit for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to reports, this is actually the first time it had failed with all 14 previous launches being successful.
Following the failed launch, the Financial Times (FT) has reported that a spokesperson for reinsurer Munich Re has confirmed that the reinsurer is one of the insurers for the rocket and the UAE satellite.
The FT adds that according to David Todd, head of space content at Seradata, a satellite analysis company, the combined insurance policy for the rocket and satellite amounted to $415.57 million (€369 million), making it the largest ever space insurance loss.
Global news outlets state that the rocket has apparently crashed into the Atlantic Ocean North of the space centre. While the reason for the failure remains uncertain, data shows that it left its intended course during its second-stage burn.
Commenting on the failure, Arianespace’s executive vice president of missions, Lucas Fabreguettes, said: “On behalf of Arianespace I wish to express our deepest apologies to our customers for the loss of their payload.
“From the first flight data analysis, we will get in the coming hours more precise information, and we will communicate to everybody at the soonest.”
