Israel’s aerospace industry fears fallout from satellite loss

Times of Israel ^ | 2 Sept | Staff

[BlackVeil]

The launchpad destruction of an advanced Israeli communications satellite may have dealt a blow to the country’s aerospace industry, the Israel Space Agency (ISA) said Friday. ...

[BlackVeil]

I wonder if this is really an accident - or sabotage. With the crisis in Syria, there are many covert forces at work.

[867V309]

interesting that the words “Elon Musk” DO NOT APPEAR in this article.

[UCANSEE2]

AND... he could have had insurance on the launch vehicle, but didn’t. That seems odd.

[CyberAnt]

but .. wouldn’t Israel have had insurance on their satellite ..?? I would think they would.

[CurlyDave]

but .. wouldn’t Israel have had insurance on their satellite ..?? I would think they would.

The satellite did not belong to Israel. It was made in Israel and sold to Zuckerberg of Facebook. Whether he had insurance on it is unknown at this time.

[catbertz]

SpaceX self insure their hardware, just like NASA. The Facebook satellite payload was insured by its owners, according to articles that I’ve read.

[ilovesarah2012]

We will never know but as soon as I heard it was an Israeli satellite, my tin foil rabbit ears popped up.

[ilovesarah2012]

I read somewhere (don’t remember where) it was a spy satellite. If it was, would they have told us?

[Justa]

I was surprised they were doing anything on Thursday. There were gusting cyclonic winds with TS Hermine approaching. All that mixing of air currents would have produce high potential for static electricity. I’m not surprised at all it blew.

[fella]

"We will never know but as soon as I heard it was an Israeli satellite, my tin foil rabbit ears popped up."

[ilovesarah2012]

Loved that show.

[maddogtiger]

Does not matter a hill of beans; covered by insurance; more business

[CyberAnt]

Okay .. thanks for that clarification.

[UCANSEE2]

but .. wouldn’t Israel have had insurance on their satellite ..?? I would think they would.

I would presume so. However, having insurance does not replace the satellite, at least instantly.

I would bet that SPACEX has backup launch vehicles. I would also bet that Israel doesn't have a backup satellite just sitting around.

[UCANSEE2]

The satellite did not belong to Israel. It was made in Israel and sold to Zuckerberg of Facebook. Whether he had insurance on it is unknown at this time.

Thanks for that info. Helps clarify my understanding of the situation, which was off by a bit.

[BlackVeil]

It seems that forward sales might be affected, as the satellite disaster makes it look faulty.

Also here:

a successful launch of the satellite would have yielded Spacecom $100 million from Facebook and another $164 million from the Israeli government. And while the satellite itself was insured for $330 million, the company had issued bonds of some NIS 1 billion ($265.5 million) to fund the project, and could find itself with a monetary shortfall for “ongoing expenses.”

But the article also makes it clear that this industry is essential, and has the support of the Israeli govt. So market forces will not be the sole influence.