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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Arianespace / ArianeGroup | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) | Firefly Aerospace |
| Country | 🇪🇺 Europe | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Retired | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Small | Small |
| Propellant | LH₂ / LOX (Vulcain 2) + solid HTPB boosters | Solid (3 stages) + liquid-fueled 4th stage | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| First flight | 1996 – 2023 | 2017 | 2021 |
| Payload to LEO | 21,000 kgas of [1]Ariane 5 ECA configuration ↑ Best | 400 kgas of [1] | 1,030 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~630 kg |
| Payload to GTO | 10,865 kgas of [1]ECA configuration. Ariane 5 ES (ATV) variant: 21,000 kg LEO ↑ Best | — | — |
| Height | 54 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 19.4 mas of [1] | 29 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 777 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 30 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable — road-mobile solid launcher. | 54 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 97.5%as of [2]113/117 successes. Failures: V501 (Jun 1996, first flight), V63 (Dec 2002, off-course but payload recovered). 2 partial successes. | ~85% (23 successes, 3 failures, 1 partial failure of 27)as of [1] ↑ Best | 43%as of [2]3/7 full successes (FLTA003 Jul 2023, FLTA005 Dec 2024, FLTA007 Mar 2026) + 2 partial successes + 2 failures through FLTA007 |
| Total flights | 117as of [2]VA261 (Jul 5, 2023) was the final Ariane 5 flight. Launched the James Webb Space Telescope (Dec 2021). ↑ Best | 27as of [1] | 7as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | ~$14,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$15M list price / 1,030 kg LEO ↓ Cheapest |
| Summary | Europe's dominant heavy-lift rocket for 27 years. Its most famous payload: the James Webb Space Telescope (Dec 25, 2021). Retired Jul 5, 2023 to make way for Ariane 6. Responsible for launching over 250 commercial and scientific payloads including XMM-Newton, Rosetta, and BepiColombo. | CASIC's road-mobile, quick-response small solid launcher, operated commercially by ExPace since 2017 — one of the higher-cadence Chinese small-lift vehicles. | Firefly Aerospace's two-stage small-lift rocket powered by four Reaver engines at sea level and one Lightning engine in vacuum. Also provides launch services for NASA's CLPS programme (Blue Ghost lander launched on Falcon 9). FLTA007 'Stairway to Seven' succeeded Mar 11, 2026. |
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.