Pick up to 4 launch vehicles to compare side-by-side. State lives in the URL — share the link and the comparison loads exactly as you left it.
The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Galactic Energy | Firefly Aerospace | CASC / CALT |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | RP-1 / LOX | RP-1 / LOX (YF-100 + YF-115) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2020 | 2021 | 2016 |
| Payload to LEO | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. | 1,030 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~630 kg | 13,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~5,500 kg ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 20 mas of [1] | 29 mas of [1] | 53.1 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 33 tas of [1] | 54 tas of [1] | 597 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] | 43%as of [2]3/7 full successes (FLTA003 Jul 2023, FLTA005 Dec 2024, FLTA007 Mar 2026) + 2 partial successes + 2 failures through FLTA007 | 100%as of [2]12/12 missions, all Tianzhou ISS resupply or CZ-7 tech demo flights ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 23as of [1] ↑ Best | 7as of [2] | 12as of [2]Most recently Tianzhou-10 cargo to Tiangong (May 11, 2026) |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$4.5M per launchas of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest | ~$14,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$15M list price / 1,030 kg LEO | — |
| 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. | 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. | China's workhorse medium-lift rocket, used exclusively for Tianzhou automated cargo missions to the Tiangong space station. Designed to replace the Long March 2F for high-cadence LEO/cargo missions. Uses the same YF-100 engines as Long March 5's boosters. |
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.