Chandrayaan-1 to moon without insurance

India's first moon mission Chandrayaan-1 which will blast off on 22nd Oct, the project which will cost Rs 386 crore, including Rs 100 crore for establishing Indian Deep Space Network near Bangalore that would receive the signals from the satellites.

The project in not covered under any insurance as Chandrayaan-1 is a scientific project, it would not require any insurance cover. “We have not taken any cover for this project,” S Satish, spokesperson of ISRO said. The Made-in-India rocket bearing the lunar spacecraft will lift off as per schedule provided the weather is right. As per the plan, the 1.5-ton Chandrayaan spacecraft will take approximately eight days to travel about 240,000 miles before reaching its final orbit 60 miles above the surface of the moon. A crash landing of a lunar vehicle on the moon's surface is also planned.

According to insurance officials the cost of insuring space launches is extremely high due to high rate of failure. Also the risk almost entirely reinsured since Indian markets do not have the depth to cover launches on their own. Because of the high rate of failure the premium rates vary between 25-33% of the sum insured. “ISRO has a good track record of launches and can go for self insurance,” the official said.