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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Khrunichev / Roscosmos | JAXA / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | Northrop Grumman |
| Country | 🇷🇺 Russia | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Active | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Heavy | Medium |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX (RD-191, all 5 modules) | LH₂ / LOX (LE-9 first stage + LE-5B-3 second stage) | RP-1 / LOX (RD-181 first stage) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2014 | 2024 | 2013 – 2023 |
| Payload to LEO | 24,500 kgas of [1]With KVTK cryogenic upper stage (planned); Briz-M gives ~5,400 kg GTO ↑ Best | 16,500 kgas of [1]H3-24 (2 SRB-3 + 4 LE-9 engines) configuration. H3-30 baseline: 16,500 kg. | 8,000 kgas of [1]Antares 230+ configuration; primarily used for ~3,500–3,800 kg Cygnus cargo |
| Payload to GTO | 5,400 kgas of [1]Briz-M upper stage. KVTK would raise this to ~7,500 kg. | 6,500 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Height | 64 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 57 mas of [1] | 41 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 773 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 574 tas of [1]H3-24S configuration | 298 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 100%as of [2]4/4 mission successes: Dec 2014, Dec 2020, Mar 2023, Apr 2024 ↑ Best | 75%as of [2]~6/8 successes. TF1 (Feb 2023) first flight failure (LE-9 ignition issue, DAICHI-3 lost). F8 (Dec 23, 2025) QZS-5 lost to 2nd-stage relight anomaly. | 91.7%as of [2]11/12 successes; Orb-3 (CRS-3) exploded at liftoff Oct 2014 |
| Total flights | 4as of [2] | 8as of [2] | 12as of [2]Final Antares flight was NG-19 (Aug 1, 2023). NG-20+ moved to Falcon 9 due to Antares RD-181 engine supply disruption (Russia sanctions). ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$5,500/kgas of [1]Target unit price ¥5B (~$35M at ¥145/$); roughly half H-IIA's per-launch cost ↓ Cheapest | — |
| 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. | Japan's next-generation flagship rocket designed to halve H-IIA costs. Uses three LE-9 engines burning liquid hydrogen — the highest-performing expander-cycle engines in the world. First successful flight was TF2 (Feb 17, 2024). HTV-X1 cargo mission to ISS (Oct 2025) demonstrated operational readiness. | Primary launch vehicle for Cygnus ISS cargo missions from 2013–2023. Its Ukrainian-built Zenit-derived first stage and Russian RD-181 engines became untenable after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Northrop switched NG-20 onward to Falcon 9 while Antares 330 (with Firefly Miranda engines) is in development. |
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.