In article ,
Jorge R. Frank wrote:
There are several potential ways out. One is to have the commercial
suppliers launch the cargo in passive cannisters and use a space tug based
at the station to retrieve it. However, this just moves the liability
problem from the cargo supplier to the space tug supplier, since one does
not currently exist.

One obvious solution is to have the tug supplied by one of the station
partners. Then only the tug is an insurance issue, still not trivial but
vastly more tractable than the station itself.

People are already thinking in that direction. When Boeing asked SpaceX
for a quote on freight delivery to an orbital fuel depot, what came back
was a quote for delivery to a point 1km from the depot.
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |