GAO: Commercial Space Launch Insurance: FAA Needs to Fully Address Mandated Requirements
“The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) report evaluating its maximum probable loss (MPL) methodology did not fully address the evaluation and consultation requirements specified by the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (CSLCA). FAA officials said they have not been able to take the actions needed to fully satisfy the mandated elements because of issues such as resource limitations and the lack of available data. However, by not resolving these issues, FAA lacks assurance that launch companies are not purchasing more insurance than needed or that the federal government is not being exposed to greater indemnification costs than expected.”

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6 replies on “GAO: FAA Dropped The Ball On Launch Insurance”

  1. FAA officials said they have not been able to take the actions needed to fully satisfy the mandated elements because of issues such as resource limitations and the lack of available data

    Translation: Keep cutting’ taxes, folks. We are already losing important governmental functions.

    1. This was happening way before the recent tax cuts. The military budget has been cut a lot the past 8 years or more. The problem is money is going elsewhere.

      1. You mean to major stockholders, real estate tycoons, corporate executives, and hedge fund managers?

        1. I didn’t see a line item in the US budget over the past 10 years for those items. I did see Health and Human Services budget increase over $430B (61%) and Social Security over $350B (53%) from 2008 budget to 2017 budget. In contrast, NASA increased just over $1B (7%) and the Dept of Transportation increased just over $14B (22%).

          1. Tax cuts are economically equivalent to spending increases, they just go to different people. I see patients on Medicare and Medicaid who’s lives depend on medical care that they cannot pay for out of pocket, because they are working people rather than hedge fund managers. Of course Congress could cut costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate better drug prices, but Pharma has greased enough congressional pockets to prevent this.

  2. This makes no sense. Launch insurance is only provided by the government in the event of a major disaster, which has never happened, at least in the US. The actual loss of the launch vehicle and payload are not the government’s responsibility. For GAO to suggest that FAA should somehow be able to produce the exact risk of such an unprecidented event is as unrealistic as saing that NASA can predict the reliability of an untested launch vehicle to three or more decimal places.

    It really sounds like GAO wants FAA to spend tax dollars on meaningless paperwork.

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