The risk of this happening was almost certainly accounted for in the contractual relationship.

Quite possibly with a termination clause. Insurance typically covers the cost of the satellite, not the cost of delaying time to revenue by what could end up being several months or years.

Unfortunately accidents happen, I have a feeling that some insurance company somewhere is going to end up paying for the damages...

Not covered by launch insurance (https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/771409425475174400), will be interesting to see if there is an insurance to cover that.

Of course it's not covered by launch insurance - it happened during the pre-launch stage. It was covered by marine cargo insurance.

Private launches are required to carry insurance in order to receive a license; I looked it up when the Orbital rocket had a similar RUD, and the government had mandated something like $140 million or so between government property contingency and general liability, if I recall.

Edit: Yeah, here's Orbital's (I can't find SpaceX's): https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/as... -- last two pages. It looks like they revised this license recently for their return to flight, too?

It's possible to insure against business risk as well as asset risk, though it's usually not worth the premium. Though I've never been in the space business I would be surprised if it were not common for launches.

There is zero need for your tone towards a user asking a simple question. He didn't know, he asked in a nice manner and it was an innocent question. How do you expect someone to learn or be comfortably asking questions on HN if they're told they aren't a "literate adult" for not knowing the specifics of insurance coverage within a high risk business sector.

Not all launches are insured. One of the largest satellite TV companies in America claims to have launched their first satellite without insurance because they were so strapped for cash.

Insurance was only for post ignition, there will be no insurance payout for this accident.

Anyone know if the satellite owner took out pre-launch and transit insurance? That's a separate insurance cover from launch insurance. Satellite launch insurance starts at normal ignition and usually ends with the satellite in the desired orbit.[1]

[1] https://www.marsh.com/uk/industries/aviation-aerospace/space...

This is false. Pre-launch accidents are covered by marine cargo insurance.

Elon was talking of SpaceX's insurance. Read: SpaceX won't be recovering the cost of the launch vehicle or the payload.

Spacecomm likely has their own insurance. Hopefully more details on this will emerge.

source?