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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Arianespace / ArianeGroup | Relativity Space | CASC / SAST |
| Country | 🇪🇺 Europe | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | In Development | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Heavy | Medium |
| Propellant | LH₂ / LOX (Vulcain 2.1 + Vinci) | LOX / methane | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic all stages) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2024 | 2026 | 1992 |
| Payload to LEO | 21,650 kgas of [1]Ariane 62 (2 boosters) / Ariane 64 (4 boosters); 64 offers higher GTO capacity | 33,500 kg expendable / 23,500 kg with a reusable first stageas of [1]First flight targeted 2026 (stated plan, not yet confirmed flown as of this research). ↑ Best | 3,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~1,300 kg; standard LEO 3,500 kg |
| Payload to GTO | 11,500 kgas of [1]Ariane 64 configuration. Ariane 62 delivers ~4,500 kg to GTO. ↑ Best | — | — |
| Height | 56–63 mas of [1]56 m (Ariane 62) / 63 m (Ariane 64 with 4 solid boosters) ↑ Best | 87 mas of [1] | 41.06 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 530–860 tas of [1]530 t (A62) / 860 t (A64) ↑ Best | — | 232 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 100%as of [2]8/8 missions through VA269 Amazon Leo (Jun 17, 2026, 36 sats on upgraded P160C boosters); Ariane 64 debut Feb 12, 2026 ↑ Best | — | 98.7%as of [2]~77/78 successes; one known failure (CZ-2D Y7, Mar 1995 upper-stage anomaly) |
| Total flights | 8as of [2] | — | ~78as of [2] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$7,500/kgas of [1]Estimate based on ~$115M A62 / ~$165M A64 list prices | ~$55M per launch (estimate)as of [1]Total launch price estimate, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest | — |
| Summary | Europe's flagship launcher replacing Ariane 5. The Vinci re-ignitable upper stage enables multi-orbit missions and controlled deorbit. Primary customers: Amazon Kuiper, European government payloads, and ESA science missions. | Relativity Space's Falcon-9-class successor to Terran 1, partially 3D-printed, with 13 Aeon R methalox engines on a reusable first stage; second stage and fairing expendable. | 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. |
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.