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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Firefly Aerospace | Galactic Energy | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Small | Small |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | Solid (3 stages) + liquid-fueled 4th stage |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| First flight | 2021 | 2020 | 2017 |
| Payload to LEO | 1,030 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~630 kg ↑ Best | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. | 400 kgas of [1] |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 29 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 20 mas of [1] | 19.4 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 54 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 33 tas of [1] | 30 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable — road-mobile solid launcher. |
| Success rate | 43%as of [2]3/7 full successes (FLTA003 Jul 2023, FLTA005 Dec 2024, FLTA007 Mar 2026) + 2 partial successes + 2 failures through FLTA007 | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] | ~85% (23 successes, 3 failures, 1 partial failure of 27)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 7as of [2] | 23as of [1] | 27as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$14,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$15M list price / 1,030 kg LEO | ~$4.5M per launchas of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest | — |
| Summary | 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. | 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. | CASIC's road-mobile, quick-response small solid launcher, operated commercially by ExPace since 2017 — one of the higher-cadence Chinese small-lift vehicles. |
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.