Question: What is a playload ?

William Avison answered on 4 Nov 2016:

Consider any form of transport, a train, a car, a boat, a plane, a rocket – they are all serving a purpose, maned or un-maned there is a function they will perform. Generally that function is the part that generates the business or income – the ‘payload’.

The payload of a British Airways plane are the passengers inside, the payload of Train are the passengers. So when you consider something like a satellite, the payload is the part that is the reason for it being there – for example in an imaging satellite, the payload is the camera, in a communications satellite the payload is the transmitter/receiver.

The payload is the satellites reason for being there, up in space!