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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Galactic Energy | LandSpace | Arianespace / ArianeGroup |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China | 🇪🇺 Europe |
| Status | Active | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Small | Medium | Heavy |
| Propellant | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | CH₄ / LOX (9× TQ-12B first stage; TQ-15B vacuum upper stage) | LH₂ / LOX (Vulcain 2) + solid HTPB boosters |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2020 | 2025 | 1996 – 2023 |
| Payload to LEO | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. | 21,000 kgas of [1]Expendable; ~18,300 kg with first-stage recovery ↑ Best | 21,000 kgas of [1]Ariane 5 ECA configuration ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | 10,865 kgas of [1]ECA configuration. Ariane 5 ES (ATV) variant: 21,000 kg LEO ↑ Best |
| Height | 20 mas of [1] | 76.2 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 54 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 33 tas of [1] | ~660 tas of [1] | 777 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] | 100%as of [2]1/1 orbital successes (Y1, Dec 3, 2025). First-stage recovery failed — abnormal combustion during the landing burn crashed the booster near the landing zone. ↑ Best | 97.5%as of [2]113/117 successes. Failures: V501 (Jun 1996, first flight), V63 (Dec 2002, off-course but payload recovered). 2 partial successes. |
| Total flights | 23as of [1] | 1as of [3]Second orbital launch and recovery attempt targeted Q2 2026 per LandSpace | 117as of [2]VA261 (Jul 5, 2023) was the final Ariane 5 flight. Launched the James Webb Space Telescope (Dec 2021). ↑ 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. | LandSpace's stainless-steel, reusable methalox rocket — China's closest analogue to Falcon 9. The Y1 debut (Dec 3, 2025) reached orbit on the first attempt but lost the booster during its landing attempt; a second flight with another recovery attempt is targeted for Q2 2026. | Europe's dominant heavy-lift rocket for 27 years. Its most famous payload: the James Webb Space Telescope (Dec 25, 2021). Retired Jul 5, 2023 to make way for Ariane 6. Responsible for launching over 250 commercial and scientific payloads including XMM-Newton, Rosetta, and BepiColombo. |
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.