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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | Nuri (KSLV-II) 🇰🇷 South Korea Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Galactic Energy | United Launch Alliance | KARI / Hanwha Aerospace |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| Status | Active | Retired | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Heavy | Medium |
| Propellant | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | LH2 / LOX | RP-1 / LOX (KRE-075 engines all stages) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| First flight | 2020 | 2004 – 2024 | 2021 |
| Payload to LEO | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. | 28,370 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 2,600 kgas of [1]600 km SSO target orbit |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 20 mas of [1] | 70.7 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 47.2 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 33 tas of [1] | 733 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 200 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] | 93.75% (15/16 full success, 1 partial failure)as of [1] ↑ Best | 75%as of [2]3/4 full successes: TF1 (Oct 2021) partial, TF2 (Jun 2022) success, TF3 (May 2023) success, TF4 (Nov 27, 2025 — first Hanwha-led production launch) success |
| Total flights | 23as of [1] ↑ Best | 16as of [1] | 4as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$4.5M per launchas of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest | — | — |
| 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 | ULA's triple-common-booster-core heavy-lift launcher, retired 2024-04-09 after its final flight; superseded by Vulcan Centaur, which ULA states offers similar heavy-lift capability at lower cost. | South Korea's first domestically developed and produced launch vehicle, designed entirely without foreign engine technology. Nuri TF4 (Nov 2025) was the first launch managed by Hanwha Aerospace rather than KARI — marking the transition to commercial operation. KASA (Korea Aerospace Administration) took over programme oversight in 2024. |
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.