In the News
Hiscox, Brit Lead New Lloyd’s Space Consortium

• David Pilla
• January 2020
• 

Lloyd's said it launched a space insurance policy for the emerging private spaceflight industry, backed by a consortium of Lloyd's syndicates led by Hiscox and Brit.

The policy is designed for “a rapidly growing new space sector, which could be the driving force behind a tripling in size of the global space market by 2040,” Lloyd's said in a statement. Lloyd's said the policy is backed by a consortium of 18 syndicates led by Brit and Hiscox, with a US$25 million capacity per risk, and is targeted at the “NewSpace” sector.

“NewSpace is characterized by lower cost, easier routes to space, opening up the sector to private enterprise, wealthy entrepreneurs and innovative start-ups,” said Lloyd's. “This is increasing the need for space insurance.”

The Lloyd's consortium is new, as is the policy, said Lloyd's spokesman Nathan Hambrook-Skinner in an email to Best's News Service.

The policy is called Llift Space and is only available in the Lloyd's market. It allows customers to cover their assets from the pre-launch phase, including transit and placement on the launch vehicle, through to the launch phase and in-orbit operation, Lloyd's said.

“New aerospace companies and ventures are emerging all the time. They are looking to develop faster and cheaper access to space and spaceflight,” said Trevor Maynard, Lloyd's head of innovation, in a statement.

“As they do so, they want access to easily scalable insurance that fits their needs and can be arranged quickly to support technological development and business growth.”

Hiscox said the space policy “is designed to cover losses arising from incidents such as a pre-launch accident, launch failure, or what we would call post-separation—when a problem arises that results in the satellite not being able to communicate with the ground station. If a small satellite launch is delayed, which can happen if there are pre-launch issues, then the product would also provide cover to allow them to refinance their new launch, which can be costly.”

Lloyd's also published a report, NewSpace: Bringing the new frontier closer to home, according to which the global space market is now worth an estimated US$300 billion as “innovation in space looks to continue, further pushing the bounds of technology.”

“Increasing interest in the sector and what the upstream sector has to offer have led to estimates that the value of the global space industry could be worth $1 trillion by 2040,” the report said.

David Pilla is news editor, BestWeek. He can be reached at david.pilla@ambest.com.