Boilerplate (spaceflight)

A boilerplate spacecraft, also known as a mass simulator, is a nonfunctional craft or payload that is used to test various configurations and basic size, load, and handling characteristics of rocket <a href="/facts/Launch_vehicle/g1GCGFJB">launch vehicles</a>. It is far less expensive to build multiple, full-scale, non-functional boilerplate <a href="/facts/Spacecraft/YQqQaUw0">spacecraft</a> than it is to develop the full system (design, test, redesign, and launch). In this way, boilerplate spacecraft allow components and aspects of cutting-edge <a href="/facts/Aerospace/T6kTLUyV">aerospace</a> projects to be tested while detailed contracts for the final project are being negotiated. These tests may be used to develop procedures for mating a spacecraft to its launch vehicle, emergency access and egress, maintenance support activities, and various transportation processes.
Boilerplate spacecraft are most commonly used to test crewed spacecraft; for example, in the early 1960s, <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> performed many tests using boilerplate <a href="/facts/Apollo_spacecraft/gv7k516G">Apollo spacecraft</a> atop <a href="/facts/Saturn_I/5Tp3eQ72">Saturn I</a> rockets, and <a href="/facts/Project_Mercury/H8zqFzbC">Mercury spacecraft</a> atop <a href="/facts/Atlas_rocket/G4rKFbb7">Atlas</a> rockets (for example <a href="/facts/Big_Joe_1/s4aEEzfr">Big Joe 1</a>). The engine-less <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle/7BoyetEv">Space Shuttle</a> <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle_Enterprise/HhtH1PfY">Enterprise</a> was used as a boilerplate to test launch stack assembly and transport to the launch pad. NASA's now-canceled <a href="/facts/Constellation_program/cRaB3DjN">Constellation program</a> and ongoing <a href="/facts/Artemis_program/QHBrKFI8">Artemis program</a> used boilerplate <a href="/facts/Orion_spacecraft/nh8VQRpD">Orion spacecraft</a> for various testing.

Boilerplate (spaceflight) open-in-new

Boilerplate (spaceflight)