Battleship (rocketry)

In rocketry, a battleship is a non-functional rocket or rocket stage which is used to test configuration and integration of a launch vehicle.

The term should not be confused with the term boilerplate, which refers to a non-functional spacecraft.

A battleship version uses thick propellant tanks made of stainless steel or other corrosion-resistant metals rather than the light weight aluminum of the operational version. This is done mainly to test the liquid engines operationally and the configuration of the propellant tank passively.

See also