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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Galactic Energy | United Launch Alliance | SpaceX |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Active | Retired | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Heavy | Medium |
| Propellant | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | LH2 / LOX | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | No | No | Yes |
| Stages | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2020 | 2004 – 2024 | 2010 |
| Payload to LEO | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. | 28,370 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 22,800 kgas of [1]Reusable first stage (expended gives 22,800 kg; reused gives ~15,600 kg) |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | 8,300 kgas of [1]Expendable configuration. Reusable GTO capacity ~5,500 kg. ↑ Best |
| Height | 20 mas of [1] | 70.7 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 70 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 33 tas of [1] | 733 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 549 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] | 93.75% (15/16 full success, 1 partial failure)as of [1] | 99.5%as of [2]~665/668 full successes (Falcon family incl. Falcon Heavy); 500th landing Sep 2025 ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 23as of [1] | 16as of [1] | ~668as of [2]Falcon family total (Falcon 9 + Falcon Heavy) per launch log; 75 in 2026 (74 F9 + 1 FH) as of Jun 25, 2026 ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$4.5M per launchas of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest | — | ~$2,720/kgas of [1]Based on $67M list price / 22,800 kg LEO (expendable) |
| Summary | Galactic Energy's workhorse small-lift solid rocket — one of the most-flown Chinese commercial launchers — with a sea-launch variant (Ceres-1S, debuted Sep 2023) and a larger Ceres-2 in development. | ULA's triple-common-booster-core heavy-lift launcher, retired 2024-04-09 after its final flight; superseded by Vulcan Centaur, which ULA states offers similar heavy-lift capability at lower cost. | The world's most frequently flown orbital rocket. Block 5 first stages have landed over 280 times and reflown up to 23 times. Backbone of Starlink and commercial crewed launches. |
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.