Virgin Galactic sent an update to subscribers of its email list on Wednesday. The update isn’t posted on its web site, so here’s a summary:

• Virgin announced last week its first “Founder” from Dubai, an artist named Namira Salim. (An article from over five years ago described her as a “sculptor, painter, musician and a designer”). That puts her in a race with Adnan Al Maimani as to who will be the first space tourist from the United Arab Emirates; Al Maimani signed up with Space Adventures last week for suborbital flights from the Ras Al-Khaimah spaceport.
• Virgin plans appearances at a number of upcoming conferences and events, including ISDC, the Royal Aeronautical Society space tourism forum in June, the Farnborough Air Show in July, and the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh.
• Virgin Galactic officials recently paid a visit to Sweden as guests of the Swedish Space Corporation. Although not mentioned in the update, Virgin’s Will Whitehorn told The Times of London last month that they were scouting out Kiruna as a possible European spaceport for the company.
• The company was hawking its “Galactic Quest” game on its Virgin Skill web site. Winning the game doesn’t get you a seat on a future flight, but it does get you $5,000 closer to being able to pay for a ticket yourself.

Australian-born NASA astronaut Andy Thomas has a vision for Woomera, the long-forgotten Australian launch site: a “10-year plan to use the Outback site to send international tourists into space and launch satellites”, according to The Advertiser, an Adelaide newspaper. Thomas has suggested that the Australian government spend A$150 million (US$110 million) over ten years to upgrade the site’s infrastructure so it can support orbital and suborbital launches. Thomas appears to be insprired by New Mexico’s plans to build a spaceport: “It just takes an investment, a will to do it and a commitment like New Mexico has done,” he told the paper. And to say he is fond of space tourism is a bit of an understatement: “Space tourism will be running into the billions of dollars in the years to come,” he said. “It’s amazing how many people have got that cash lying around.”

That leading publication of the space industry, Insurance Journal, follows up a report on the web site of Lloyd’s of London that the insurer, famous for taking on risks conventional insurers shun, is considering providing coverage for Virgin Galactic. The insurance would cover the “hull value” of Virgin’s SpaceShipTwo vehicles; the cost would depend on “the safety and reliability of the venture established through its testing phase”, expected to feature up to 100 test flights.

The reports add that “third party liability cover may also be required” in the event of a crash or other damage to people living near the launch site. In fact, such coverage will be required if Virgin is going to operate under an FAA/AST launch license. Fortunately, that should not that expensive since the maximum probable loss should be small: after all, there aren’t that many people living near the New Mexico Spaceport.

As for insurance for the passengers? Don’t bother, at least for now: “initially passengers may have to travel at their own risk as insurers could be reluctant to provide personal accident cover until a safety record for the flights is established.”