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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | GSLV Mk III (LVM3) 🇮🇳 India Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Firefly Aerospace | ISRO | Arianespace / ArianeGroup |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇮🇳 India | 🇪🇺 Europe |
| Status | Active | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Small | Heavy | Heavy |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | Solid (S200 boosters) + UDMH/N₂O₄ (L110) + LH₂/LOX (C25) | LH₂ / LOX (Vulcain 2) + solid HTPB boosters |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| First flight | 2021 | 2017 | 1996 – 2023 |
| Payload to LEO | 1,030 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~630 kg | 10,000 kgas of [1] | 21,000 kgas of [1]Ariane 5 ECA configuration ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | 4,000 kgas of [1] | 10,865 kgas of [1]ECA configuration. Ariane 5 ES (ATV) variant: 21,000 kg LEO ↑ Best |
| Height | 29 mas of [1] | 43.43 mas of [1] | 54 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 54 tas of [1] | 643 tas of [1] | 777 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| 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 | 100%as of [2]10/10 missions since development flight 2014 (D1). Production flights since 2017. ↑ 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 | 7as of [2] | 10as of [2] | 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 | ~$14,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$15M list price / 1,030 kg LEO | ~$4,500/kgas of [1]Estimated from OneWeb commercial contract ~$450M for 36 satellites (~5 tonne batch to GTO) ↓ 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. | India's most powerful rocket. Launched Chandrayaan-3 (Moon lander) in Jul 2023 and OneWeb internet satellites commercially. Renamed LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark 3) in 2022. The CE-20 cryogenic engine was entirely ISRO-developed — previously India depended on Russian technology for the GSLV Mk II. | 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. |
28 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.