Does it have a nuke reactor on board?
I don't want a nuke reactor to land in my garden.
It might do strange things to the cat. Or worse.
Any fragments of the doomed Russian Mars probe Phobos-Grunt that don't burn up in the fiery explosion of its fuel tanks hitting the atmosphere are likely to fall to Earth on 15 January. Russian Air and Space Defence Troops' spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin gave Russian news agency Itar-Tass the date but added that it might still …
... in case Grunt decides to land on my house/car/pet/family member/significant other? I'm not sure I can trust government bureaucrats to handle my claim in a timely manner:
-- -- El' Wiki: Space Liability Convention (section "Claims between states only")
-- -- -- -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Liability_Convention#Claims_between_states_only
You can get insurance for anything you like. Anything - even things that have already happened[1].
But you might not like the premium...
Vic.
[1] Legal cases often involve "after the fact" insurance, to insure against the legal costs that you already know you're going to be facing...
"Zolotukhin said that information about orbit changes was being 'provided for all the parties concerned'."
What'd he say? Parties? Hot damn, sounds like a helluvan idea. A week and a half'll be just enough time to send the invites out, scrounge up the lawn chairs and get a few pony kegs.
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