Beyond the use of weapons in space, the satellite insurance business is extremely volatile. In the last four years, satellite insurance rates have risen by 129 per cent, driven by increasing complexity and anomalies of satellite systems. The mere presence of weapons poses a risk, and insurance companies structure their rates on risk estimates. The resolution approach for the insurers will be to strengthen their exclusion clauses for acts of war -- pass the risks to the financiers, who will have to decide to go to space without such insurance coverage, or not go at all. The combination of weapons posturing and/or use may well cause increasing debris, expensive hardening and increasing risk (perceived by insurers and/or assumed by financiers), all producing an inaccessible international commercial space environment.

---

Deblois, Bruce M. "The Advent of Space Weapons." Astropolitics. Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 2003). [ 15 quotes ]