Is it possible to insure against an asteroid impact event?

Where obtaining political and governmental engagement is concerned, in order to facilitate sovereign insurance or macro-insurance policies, this process may take a little longer. In the UK public discussion first took place on this matter almost fifteen years ago, as a result of the collaboration between Atkinson, H., Tickell, C., and Williams, D., in their “Report of the Task Force on Potentially Hazardous Near Earth Objects² Procrastination with regard to international financial contingency planning can arguably be attributed to the unlikely nature of an impact event occurring within the lifetime of a parliament or a term of office. As can be seen from the planning in response to previous natural disasters, such as the hundred-year floods, decision making, in terms of risk treatment, was postponed. Furthermore, previous responses to low-probability but high-consequence natural disasters are inconsistent. This can best be exemplified when, during the mid-1980’s, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) modeled a hurricane path, which was subsequently proven to be identical to the exact path Hurricane Katrina would later follow. Despite this prediction being widely communicated and published, it was still not sufficient for the authorities concerned to initiate a comprehensive management framework for the instigation of the required flood control projects. As a result of this, the majority of the low-lying wetland areas in and around New Orleans, which could have been included within the flood protection system, became flooded. Similarly, with the near-Earth object impact hazard, history is in danger of repeating itself unless more geopolitical action is taken as a result of the various representations and recommendations that have already been made to the United Nations.

 

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