OREANDA-NEWS. On 18 March 2009 was announced, that after a successful launch of the launch vehicle Proton-M 11 equipped with the Breeze-M upper stage the space vehicles Express-AM33 and Express-MD1 set into orbit.

The coverage of property risks of FGUP Kosmicheskaya Svyaz (‘Space Communication’), the operator and owner of the communication satellites, related to the double launch was extended on the basis of co-insurance by IJSC Ingosstrakh (70%) and SOGAZ Insurance Group (30%). In December 2007 the insurers were announced wining bidders in an open tender for the insurance of the risks of partial or full loss of the space vehicles Express-AM33, Express-AM44 and Express-MD1 during their launch and orbiting.  The other bids were submitted by four other large insurers.

The aggregate liability of IJSC Ingosstrakh under the double launch of Express-AM44 and Express-MD1 amounts to RUR 1.998bn, while the liability of IJSC Ingosstrakh in relation to Express-AM33 launched on January 28, 2008 totaled RUR 1.230bn. The contracts were reinsured in the international market by MARSH, an insurance broker, with engagement of lead space risk insurers.

The launch on February 11, 2009 was the first for the launch vehicle Proton-M 11in 2009, and the first in history for the upper stage that set the space vehicles weighing in aggregate ca. 3700 kg in the geostationary orbit. To make this goal achievable, the Khrunichev State Space Scientific & Research Center manufactured an improved version of Proton-M with Breeze-M as the upper stage with a better lifting capacity.

This launch demonstrated the new capacities Proton-M and the high reliability of Russian space engineering.

Express-AM33 and Express-AM44 were manufactured by OJSC Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems (OJSC ISS). Express-MD1 was manufactured by the Khrunichev State Space Scientific & Research Center in cooperation with Thales Alenia Space (TAS).

These new satellites will contribute to the expansion of the capacity of the satellite segment operated by FGUP Kosmicheskaya Svyaz, the state-owned Russian satellite communication operator and one of the satellite communication leaders in the world.

IJSC Ingosstrakh has become the traditional insurer of the space risks of FGUP Kosmicheskaya Svyaz. Over the years of their partnership, Ingosstrakh insured the following space vehicles: Gorizont #45, Express-A1, Express-A2, Express-A3, Express-AM1, Express-AM2, Express-AM3, Express-AM11, and Express-AM22. in 2000, the insurance company compensated the damages of USD12.5mln incurred in connection with the loss of Express-A1 due to the damages sustained by Proton, the launch vehicle.