Comment Re:as always.... (Score 1) 204
I'm not sure that is what is happening here. It seems reasonable that a rocket owner will refuse to take liability for the stuff on the rocket, since a rocket blowing up is not uncommon. So they basically say, "you can send stuff on our rocket at your own risk." Maybe the satellite owner should go out and buy insurance, but if it was up to the rocket owner to buy the insurance they would just pass that exact cost on to the payload owner (making the payload owner pay for the insurance indirectly).
So the question is, if a Boeing (or whatever) satellite was destroyed on a NASA rocket that blew up, did NASA reimburse Boeing for the damages, or was it the same as here? And then, if it is always the payload owner who bears the risk, should the US government buy insurance? I think the answer to that is no, since the cost of insurance will have to be greater than the expected cost of actual losses in the long run, and the government can afford to self-insure in this case.