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 | LandSpace | RKTs Progress |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Medium | Medium |
| Propellant | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | CH₄ / LOX (9× TQ-12B first stage; TQ-15B vacuum upper stage) | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| First flight | 2020 | 2025 | 2026 |
| 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 | 18,000 kgas of [1]Uncrewed configuration. |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 20 mas of [1] | 76.2 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 61.9 m (uncrewed) / 65.9 m (crewed variant)as of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 33 tas of [1] | ~660 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 530 tas of [1] |
| 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 | — |
| Total flights | 23as of [1] ↑ Best | 1as of [3]Second orbital launch and recovery attempt targeted Q2 2026 per LandSpace | 1 (suborbital test)as of [1]First flight 2026-04-30 was a suborbital test, not yet a full orbital mission per this source. |
| 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. | Russia's replacement for the Ukrainian-built Zenit, restoring medium-lift capability lost after 2014. Uses the RD-171MV — described as the most powerful liquid-fuel rocket engine in the world — on its first stage, launching from Baikonur. |
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.