OREANDA-NEWS. February 16, 2010. Ingosstarkh paid out an insurance indemnity of USD 2.2 mln for the insured event related to the partial wreck of the PALAPA D spacecraft.

In August 2009, when the Indonesian telecommunications satellite PALAPA D was launched, a failure occurred in the third stage of the Chinese launcher, Long March 3B. As a result, instead of reaching the geostationary orbit, the satellite was placed into the lower transfer orbit. The insurer of the spacecraft, Thales Alenia Space, by agreement with the customer, Indonesian satellite communications operator Indosat and the advisor, Telesat Canada, made an attempt to save the satellite by maneuvering it into the geostationary orbit using its own cruise engine.

The successful rescue operation resulted in placing the satellite into the target point at the geostationary orbit, but due to the excessive fuel consumption for the additional maneuvers, its in-orbit lifetime decreased by one-third. The insurant has therefore paid an indemnity of USD 68 mln.

Ingosstrakh, along with the leading world insurers, has taken part in the program for satellite launch coinsurance and its subsequent in-orbit operation implemented by the insurance broker AON.