Orbital ATK [OA] purchased additional insurance coverage under its existing plan for Virginia-owned property at NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility after an insurance gap among the three parties caused the civil space agency to pay for damages resulting from Orbital ATK’s Antares launch failure.
Orbital ATK Staff Vice President for Government Relations Kate Kronmiller told sister publication Defense Daily Nov. 12 the additional coverage for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), the Virginia-owned pad at Wallops, cost the company in the area of “tens of thousands” of dollars. Kronmiller said NASA told Orbital ATK it would not pay for future repairs of NASA property at Wallops Island resulting from damage caused from commercial spaceflight activity. NASA increased its sole source contract with Orbital ATK to cover a $5 million gap after NASA and the Virginia Commercial Spaceflight Authority (VCSFA) discussed who was responsible for the remaining balance, according to NASA’s inspector general.
Orbital ATK spokesman Barry Beneski said Nov. 12 the company’s insurance coverage previously covered Orbital ATK, NASA and federal government assets while VCSFA handled insurance covering commonwealth property in its own way. MARS is considered Virginia property at a federal facility.
The NASA IG said in a recent report that the insurance VCSFA had at the time of the Antares failure covered damage from aircraft and aviation operations but not spacecraft and launch vehicles, leaving the $5 billion balance for MARS repairs. VCSFA Deputy Executive Director Zigmond Leszczynski did not return a request for comment Nov. 12 and a request for comment left with VCSFA Executive Director Dale Nash was also not returned.
Beneski said, moving forward, Orbital ATK’s insurance includes Virginia property. Beneski declined to say how much the company paid for the extra insurance coverage and how much additional monetary coverage it provided. He also declined to say who provides Orbital ATK’s insurance for MARS, but did say it was part of a consortium with a lead underwriter. Beneski did say that Orbital ATK’s insurance will not cover its upcoming NASA Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) mission from Kennedy Space Center because the mission will take place on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.
Kronmiller said she worked for Space Services Inc., which helped the House Science Committee write the original Commercial Space Launch Act (CSLA) in the early 1980s. She said when the first CSLA was written, lawmakers didn’t imagine that a state-owned pad would be involved.
NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz on Nov. 12 pointed to the civil space agency’s response to NASA IG for comment. In its response, NASA said procedures are in place for reviewing financial protection agreements such as the agreement between NASA and VCSFA. NASA said the insurance policies obtained by Orbital ATK and VCSFA did, in fact, fully comply with the requirements of the agreement, that there was no requirement for VCSFA to obtain commercial insurance covering its own property during launch operations.
NASA told NASA IG damage to NASA property was covered by Orbital ATK’s commercial insurer and the agency was not liable for damage to VCSFA property. NASA said the agency was not required to contribute funds to the recovery effort at MARS, but rather made an appropriate programmatic and policy-based decision to do so.