AON Space

Aon Space is the space insurance and risk advisory practice of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), the London-headquartered global professional services and insurance brokerage firm with approximately $13 billion in annual revenues. Alongside Marsh Space Projects and Willis Towers Watson Space, Aon is one of three dominant brokers that collectively arrange the majority of the global space insurance market's $600-900 million in annual premiums.

Core services span the full satellite and launch vehicle lifecycle: pre-launch insurance covering satellite manufacturing loss; launch insurance protecting against payload loss from launch vehicle failure (historically the highest-frequency loss event, with premiums typically 3-10% of the satellite's replacement value per launch); in-orbit insurance covering satellite malfunction, partial or total loss during operational service; and third-party liability insurance indemnifying operators and launch providers against claims from third parties damaged by falling debris, radio frequency interference, or other space activity impacts.

Aon Space's dual-sided expertise is a structural advantage: the firm advises both buyers (satellite operators, launch providers, government agencies purchasing coverage) and sellers (Lloyd's of London underwriting syndicates, Munich Re, Swiss Re, Hannover Re, Zurich Insurance) on pricing, risk modeling, and portfolio management. Aon's internal space engineers conduct technical risk assessments — launch vehicle reliability histories, satellite bus failure mode databases, orbital debris conjunction probability modeling — that inform both placement strategy and premium negotiations.

The new space era is reshaping the market: LEO constellation operators (SpaceX Starlink, OneWeb/Eutelsat, Planet) are largely self-insured given the fleet redundancy model, reducing traditional per-satellite premium volume, while small launch vehicle providers (Rocket Lab Electron, Firefly Alpha) and commercial lunar missions represent growing demand segments. Aon Space also advises sovereign wealth funds and PE investors conducting space company due diligence on insurance-related liability exposure and gap analysis. The practice is based in London where Lloyd's of London, the largest single space insurance market, maintains its underwriting syndicates.