Aon partnered with U.K.-based Inmarsat to broker create this specialized risk coverage for the Inmarsat-4 F-1 communications satellite.

"Space is the foundation for more of today's high-tech communications than most people realize," according to Ted Johnson, managing director of the Washington, DC-based Aon Space group.

"Aon has been supporting commercial space ventures since 1998. We're proud that the partnership between Inmarsat's satellite engineers and Aon's space technology experts has resulted in insurance coverage that has made this historic launch possible."

Roughly the size of a double-decker bus, the Inmarsat satellite is one of the largest and most powerful commercial communication satellites ever launched.

The I-4 will make data transfers of up to 432 kilobits per second (kbit/s) possible for mobile users virtually anywhere in the world, according to Inmarsat's Director of Corporate and Investor Communications, Chris McLaughlin.

"The I-4 satellites are part of a $1.5 billion program designed to enhance voice and high-bandwidth data communications around the world," McLaughlin says.

"The launch of the Inmarsat-4 F-1 satellite is an important first step in bringing broadband to a mobile planet."

Aon spent several years working closely with company executives to design an insurance program tailor-made for the I-4. "This was a noteworthy benchmark for satellite risk analysis," he said. "It was 'clean sheet of paper' stuff; a true partnership."

After being appointed Inmarsat's broker in September, 2001, the first thing Aon's space risk experts had to do was determine whether the I-4 was even insurable.

"It was something no one had ever seen before," according to Aon Space Senior Vice President Tim Rush. Once insurability was determined, Rush said the next challenge was figuring out what would constitute an actual loss.

"There was a great deal of emphasis in the beginning on defining the risk and crafting the coverage," Rush said.

"How do you measure and quantify a loss of this type? What happens if there's an impairment to the satellite's systems that diminishes its value? These are some of the questions we had to ask ourselves."

From its geostationary Earth orbit of 36,000 km, the solar-powered Inmarsat-4 will significantly increase the available bandwidth for global mobile data transmission via satellite.

According to Inmarsat experts, the I- 4 is different from a conventional commercial communications satellite because it can focus power through very narrow beams to a small area on the Earth, and the beams can be dynamically repositioned according to requirements.

Inmarsat was established in 1979 as a maritime-focused satellite communications operator. The company owns and operates a fleet of 10 satellites supporting links for phone, fax and data communications to more than a quarter of a million ship, vehicle, aircraft and portable terminals.

Aon provides risk management and insurance brokering services, particularly in asset and revenue protection to all sectors of the satellite communications industry.

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