In article ,
Herb Schaltegger wrote:
Why did the test launces of ELVs use dummy upper stages, and no real
payload? Why put ANYTHING on them...oh, because that wouldn't be a
meaningful test of the rest of the system, and wouldn't prove anything
with respect to real operations, later.

Well, didn't Sealaunch put a revenue-generating payload onto it's first
Zenit?

No. The first Sea Launch flight carried a mass dummy. They would have
*liked* to carry a revenue payload, and at first they had one, Panamsat's
Galaxy 11. In fact, Panamsat was so confident in Boeing that they also
put Galaxy 10 on the first Delta III... which was lost. And then a Zenit
failed (with a quarter of the whole Globalstar constellation aboard). At
which point, Panamsat and its insurers went into a Sea Launch planning
meeting carrying long pointy sticks :-) :-) :-), and after the screaming
was over, Galaxy 11 was rebooked on Ariane and Sea Launch gritted its
teeth and launched the Galaxy 11 mass dummy they'd been using for
facilities checkout.

Incidentally, responding to the original comment, it's no longer common
for ELV tests to use dummy upper stages. It's too difficult to simulate
the mass properties of upper stages well with dummies, plus it loses
opportunities to test the upper stages -- if you think the lower stage is
likely to work, it makes sense to put live upper stages on top, and test
them too.
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
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