By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
Wherever there is uncertainty, risk prevails. Whenever risk prevails, it needs to be insured.
If this axiom holds true, Korea should have insured the uncertainty-loaded program of blasting off the nation's first space rocket, dubbed the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1).
But the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), which has been in charge of the prohibitively expensive program, did not sign up with insurance on the two-stage rocket for some reason.
``We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in developing the rocket over the past several years. Hence, we attempted to subscribe with insurance in case of a failure,'' a KARI spokesman said.
``However, insurance companies asked too much premiums to cover the risk, which we simply could not accept. So we decided to forge ahead with an uninsured rocket,'' he said.
He said that the experimental rockets are usually not insured unlike satellites or commercial rockets across the world.
In addition, the KARI has plan B ― even if the first rocket fails to complete the mission, it would lift two other rockets next year and in 2011.
Instead, the KARI carries 200 billion won insurance for any collateral damage caused by the KSLV-1.
``We minted a contract with a local insurance company, which will compensate any casualty or property damage caused by the rocket project with the limitation of 200 billion won,'' the KARI spokesman said.
``As far as we know, the main underwriter resorted to several reinsurance companies. They are all domestic corporations,'' he said.
Asked what insurer is the main underwriter, he refused to specify citing a non-disclosure agreement between them.
But an industry source who is familiar with the issue said that Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance is the main underwriter. Samsung admitted that it had underwritten the 200 billion won insurance with nine other domestic insurers.
The 33-meter, 140-ton KSLV-1, which assumed more than $400 million investment, was scheduled to be launched at the Naro Space Center this week, located 485 kilometers south of Seoul.
It was minutes away from leaving the ground but the countdown was aborted due to software malfunction at a high-pressure tank regulating valves inside the rocket engine.
The re-launch is expected to be tried after fixing the software glitch.
Should the launch succeed, Korea would become the 10th country in the world to lift a spacecraft into the orbit on this planet.