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 | PLD Space | Interstellar Technologies |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇪🇸 Spain | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Status | Active | In Development | In Development |
| Vehicle class | Small | Small | Small |
| Propellant | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | RP-1 / LOX | Liquid biomethane (LBM) / LOX |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2020 | 2026 | 2027 |
| Payload to LEO | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. | 1,080 kgas of [1]540 kg to SSO. First flight is a stated plan (targeted Q1 2026 as of this research; not yet confirmed flown) — treat as a target, not a fact. ↑ Best | 250 kgas of [1]500 km SSO. No flight attempts as of this research — follows the company's successful suborbital MOMO sounding-rocket program. A larger orbital vehicle, DECA, was announced January 2023. |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 20 mas of [1] | 35.7 mas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Liftoff mass | 33 tas of [1] | 69 tas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Success rate | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] ↑ Best | — | — |
| Total flights | 23as of [1] ↑ Best | — | — |
| 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. | PLD Space's orbital small launcher with a recoverable first stage (engine thrust + parachutes), developed with ESA Future Launchers Preparatory Programme support; primary launch site is the Guiana Space Centre. | A liquid-biomethane orbital smallsat launcher from Interstellar Technologies, Japan's most established private rocket startup by suborbital flight heritage, though not yet flown to orbit. |
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.