The Briefing

Fifty years ago, the world held its breath as it could hear and see mankind walk upon the surface of another world. Fast-forward to today and a lot has changed: technology, politics, and the space race, but still no casino on the Moon as in Andy Weir’s book Artemis. Even though we have access to over 100,000 times the processing power in our small, half-pound smartphone, as compared to the 70-pound behemoth known as the Apollo Guidance Computer, Commercialized Space, specifically Space Tourism, is still in its infancy. However, that slowly started to change when the United States enacted the Commercial Space Launch Act and retired its Space Shuttle Program. Companies such as Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Orion Span, and Boeing (to name just a few) have started the slow ascent into commercializing spaceflight with some even providing launch vehicles to both the government and commercial companies at a reduced cost. In order to keep U.S. companies in competition with the rest of the world, the United States passed the previously mentioned Commercial Space Launch Act (“Launch Act”). The Launch Act requires companies to either obtain third-party liability insurance[1] or show it has the financial responsibility in order to cover third-party claims up to the maximum probability loss (“MPL”) when the company is issued a launch or reentry license by the United State Government. Each MPL is determined on a case-by-case basis; however, the cap is set at $500 million in 1988 dollars. Adjusting to current market inflation, that […]

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