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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Northrop Grumman | CASC / SAST | JAXA / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Status | Retired | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Medium | Medium |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX (RD-181 first stage) | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic all stages) | LH₂ / LOX (LE-7A first stage + LE-5B second stage) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2013 – 2023 | 1992 | 2001 – 2025 |
| Payload to LEO | 8,000 kgas of [1]Antares 230+ configuration; primarily used for ~3,500–3,800 kg Cygnus cargo | 3,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~1,300 kg; standard LEO 3,500 kg | 10,000 kgas of [1]202 configuration (2 SRB-A3 solid strap-ons) ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | 4,100 kgas of [1]202 configuration ↑ Best |
| Height | 41 mas of [1] | 41.06 mas of [1] | 53 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 298 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 232 tas of [1] | 285 tas of [1]202 configuration |
| Success rate | 91.7%as of [2]11/12 successes; Orb-3 (CRS-3) exploded at liftoff Oct 2014 | 98.7%as of [2]~77/78 successes; one known failure (CZ-2D Y7, Mar 1995 upper-stage anomaly) ↑ Best | 98%as of [2]49/50 successes. Only failure: F6 (Nov 2003, MTSAT-1R lost due to SRB separation anomaly). Retired after Flight 50 (GOSAT-GW, Jun 28, 2025). |
| Total flights | 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). | ~78as of [2] ↑ Best | 50as of [2]50 flights from 2001–2025. H3 replaces it from 2024 onward. |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | 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. | China's most-used sun-synchronous and polar orbit workhorse for small-to-medium military and commercial Earth observation satellites. Launched from Jiuquan and Taiyuan. Uses storable hypergolic propellants for high launch-readiness but produces toxic exhaust. | Japan's flagship medium-lift rocket for 24 years, retiring after an exceptional 49/50 mission success record. Launched the SELENE lunar orbiter (2007), Akatsuki Venus probe (2010), Hayabusa2 (2014), SLIM lunar lander (2023), and the ALOS series Earth observation satellites. |
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.