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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Northrop Grumman | LandSpace | Avio |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China | 🇪🇺 Europe |
| Status | Retired | Active | In Development |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Medium | Small |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX (RD-181 first stage) | CH₄ / LOX (9× TQ-12B first stage; TQ-15B vacuum upper stage) | Solid (P160C first stage) / LOX-methane (cryogenic upper stage) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| First flight | 2013 – 2023 | 2025 | 2027 |
| Payload to LEO | 8,000 kgas of [1]Antares 230+ configuration; primarily used for ~3,500–3,800 kg Cygnus cargo | 21,000 kgas of [1]Expendable; ~18,300 kg with first-stage recovery ↑ Best | — |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 41 mas of [1] | 76.2 mas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Liftoff mass | 298 tas of [1] | ~660 tas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Success rate | 91.7%as of [2]11/12 successes; Orb-3 (CRS-3) exploded at liftoff Oct 2014 | 100%as of [2]1/1 orbital successes (Y1, Dec 3, 2025). First-stage recovery failed — abnormal combustion during the landing burn crashed the booster near the landing zone. ↑ Best | — |
| 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). ↑ Best | 1as of [3]Second orbital launch and recovery attempt targeted Q2 2026 per LandSpace | — |
| 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. | LandSpace's stainless-steel, reusable methalox rocket — China's closest analogue to Falcon 9. The Y1 debut (Dec 3, 2025) reached orbit on the first attempt but lost the booster during its landing attempt; a second flight with another recovery attempt is targeted for Q2 2026. | The next evolution of ESA's Vega line: replaces the Zefiro-9 and AVUM+ stages with a single cryogenic LOX/methane upper stage powered by the new M10 engine, adding multi-orbit deployment flexibility. First flight is a stated target (2027), not yet flown. |
48 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.