Intelsat 708 launch failure (1996)
A Chinese launcher crashed onto a village in February 1996, and its investigation triggered the tightening of US export controls on satellites.
A launch failure costs more than the satellite and the insured payload: its investigation can transform the law governing an entire market. After the loss of Intelsat 708 on a Chinese launcher, Western engineers took part in an independent review committee of the investigation, and Washington accused them of providing China an unlicensed defense service. Commercial satellites were then placed under the strictest US export control regime, which closed Chinese launchers for years to satellites with US components. For the insurer, launch risk is therefore also political risk: the choice of launcher depends on licenses that an incident can withdraw. The case also shows the reach of third-party liability on the ground.
On February 15, 1996, a Long March 3B veered two seconds after liftoff from Xichang and crashed about 1,200 meters from the pad, onto Mayelin village; the official toll was six dead and 57 injured, a figure that is disputed. The House of Representatives' Cox Report in 1999 found that the review committee chaired by a Loral executive had helped China improve the reliability of its rockets.
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