§20139 Insurance for Experimental Aerospace Vehicles

Summary

The Administrator may provide liability insurance or indemnification to a developer working with the Administration on an experimental aerospace vehicle. A cooperating party is someone who signs an agreement to help with the work. A developer is a U.S. organization (not a person) that helps build the vehicle, provides things that will fly on it, or hires someone to fly on it. An experimental aerospace vehicle is an object flown or launched to test reusable-launch technologies under an agreement with the Administration. A related entity includes contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, grantees, and investigators. The developer must carry insurance or show it can pay for the maximum probable loss for third-party death, injury, or property damage and for damage to government property. The Administrator sets the required amount, which normally cannot be more than the amount in section 50914(a)(3) for a launch, and must publish that amount in the Federal Register within 10 days. The Administrator can raise that amount after consulting experts and the Comptroller General, and after giving at least 180 days’ public notice and making related records available. The Administration must be satisfied that proper safety practices are in place before offering insurance. Indemnification is only allowed if there is a cross-waiver agreement. The Administrator can make mutual waivers of claims between the United States, the developer or cooperating party, and their related entities, but those waivers cannot stop a natural person from claiming for injury or death, cannot remove negligence or willful-misconduct liability to a natural person, and cannot be used to seek indemnification for damages paid to a natural person. The rules here do not apply to matters already covered by section 20138, and indemnification is not allowed for launches under section 50919(g)(1). These provisions terminated on December 31, 2010, but do not automatically cancel agreements made under them.