The Satellite Industry Association applauded the passage of...

The Satellite Industry Association applauded the passage of HR-3547, The Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included a provision to extend the commercial space launch indemnification. The three-year extension “ensures the continuation of a long-standing provision needed to help ensure the global competitiveness of U.S. companies,” SIA said in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/1b8GRz1). The provision continues a risk management regime requiring launch service providers to acquire private launch insurance against the possibility of third party damages in the event of a failure involving government or commercial satellites, it said. But it offers government indemnification “for any such damages in excess of the required private launch insurance limits,” SIA said.