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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Khrunichev / Roscosmos | JAXA / IHI Aerospace | Rocket Lab |
| Country | 🇷🇺 Russia | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Active | Retired | In Development |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX (RD-191, all 5 modules) | Solid (HTPB — all stages) | CH₄ / LOX |
| Reusable | No | No | Yes |
| Stages | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| First flight | 2014 | 2013 – 2022 | 2026 |
| Payload to LEO | 24,500 kgas of [1]With KVTK cryogenic upper stage (planned); Briz-M gives ~5,400 kg GTO ↑ Best | 590 kgas of [1]500 kg to SSO. Enhanced Epsilon (from E-4) added 700 kg LEO via PBS liquid kick stage. | 13,000 kgas of [1]Expendable; ~8,000 kg reusable with first-stage return |
| Payload to GTO | 5,400 kgas of [1]Briz-M upper stage. KVTK would raise this to ~7,500 kg. ↑ Best | — | — |
| Height | 64 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 26 mas of [1] | ~40 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 773 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 96 tas of [1] | ~481 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 100%as of [2]4/4 mission successes: Dec 2014, Dec 2020, Mar 2023, Apr 2024 ↑ Best | 83.3%as of [2]5/6 successes. E-6 (Oct 12, 2022) PBS upper stage failed to ignite, eight satellites lost. Epsilon S (next-generation) ground test anomaly Jan 2023 effectively ended the programme. | — |
| Total flights | 4as of [2] | 6as of [2] ↑ Best | — |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | Russia's new-generation heavy-lift rocket built entirely of Russian-manufactured components — a political priority after Proton-M's dependence on Ukrainian components. Five URM-1 universal rocket modules share the same propellant (RP-1/LOX), unlike Proton-M's toxic hypergolics. Flight rate remains very low. | JAXA's small solid-fuel rocket derived from the M-V rocket heritage. Designed for highly autonomous operations — launch preparations could be managed by just 8 people. The sixth and final E-6 mission (Oct 2022) failed when the PBS kick stage didn't ignite; a ground explosion during Epsilon S testing (Jan 2023) ended the programme. | Rocket Lab's medium-lift reusable rocket targeting the $100B constellation replenishment market. Uses a 'hungry hippo' fairings design that opens at the top rather than traditional clamshell separation. First flight delayed to Q4 2026 after a Jan 2026 propellant tank test anomaly. |
28 launch vehicles across 10 countries — active, retired, and in development — with primary-source citations from manufacturer user guides and agency press kits. Pure URL state: bookmark or share the link and the comparison reproduces exactly.