Guidance

Third-party liability insurance requirements and limits of operator liability for activities licensed under the Outer Space Act 1986 and the Space Industry Act 2018

Published 1 June 2022

Third-party liability insurance requirements and limits of operator liability for activities licensed under the Outer Space Act 1986 and the Space Industry Act 2018.

The following table sets out the third-party liability (TPL) insurance requirements and operators’ indemnification obligations for licences issued under each Act. The nature of the requirements is set out below with respect to both Acts.

  Outer Space Act 1986 Space Industry Act 2018
Insurance requirements and limits of operator liability for orbital licensees    
Procuring a launch (outside UK) €60m N/A
Procuring a launch (UK) N/A Set at the same as for the launch operator using the MIR for the launch phase
Orbital operations (outside UK) · €60m insurance requirement / indemnity limit for standard missions· May be higher for higher risk missions· Insurance requirement may be waived for low-risk missions (but €60m indemnity obligation remains)· ‘Any one occurrence’ approach and ‘aggregate’ amounts to be determined by the regulator as appropriate N/A
Orbital operations (UK) N/A As per OSA requirements for orbital operations
Insurance and indemnity requirements for launch operator licensees    
Launch operations (UK) N/A Calculated using the Modelled insurance Requirement for the launch phase
Note: Insurance requirements for upper stages remaining in orbit, and for planned re-entry of satellites and upper stages is to be confirmed.    

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