Loss of AMC-14 (2008)
A television satellite stranded in an unusable orbit by a Proton's Breeze-M stage on March 15, 2008, declared a total loss and later sold, after settlement, to the US Department of Defense.
When an insurer pays a total loss, it generally takes title to whatever remains: that is salvage, in the insurance sense of the word. In space, that remainder can be an intact satellite in the wrong orbit, worthless to its commercial operator but potentially valuable to another user willing to accept a shorter life or an unusual position. AMC-14 illustrates the mechanism: the upper stage failure left the satellite far short of its transfer orbit, its owner declared it lost, and the spacecraft was then sold and maneuvered for months toward a usable orbit. The case shows that a total loss is a contractual classification, not a physical finding, and that resale proceeds reduce the net cost of the claim. It is also a reminder of operators' dependence on an upper stage, the Breeze-M, that has suffered several failures.
Launched from Baikonur on March 15, 2008 aboard a Proton-M, AMC-14 was left short of its planned orbit when the Breeze-M stage's second burn shut down early, which the Russian board of inquiry traced to a ruptured gas duct. SES declared it a total loss and expected insurance proceeds of about 150 million dollars; the satellite was then transferred to the US Department of Defense and reached an inclined geosynchronous orbit in January 2009.
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