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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Firefly Aerospace | CASC / SAST | JAXA / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Medium | Heavy |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic all stages) | LH₂ / LOX (LE-9 first stage + LE-5B-3 second stage) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2021 | 1992 | 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | 1,030 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~630 kg | 3,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~1,300 kg; standard LEO 3,500 kg | 16,500 kgas of [1]H3-24 (2 SRB-3 + 4 LE-9 engines) configuration. H3-30 baseline: 16,500 kg. ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | 6,500 kgas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Height | 29 mas of [1] | 41.06 mas of [1] | 57 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 54 tas of [1] | 232 tas of [1] | 574 tas of [1]H3-24S configuration ↑ 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 | 98.7%as of [2]~77/78 successes; one known failure (CZ-2D Y7, Mar 1995 upper-stage anomaly) ↑ Best | 75%as of [2]~6/8 successes. TF1 (Feb 2023) first flight failure (LE-9 ignition issue, DAICHI-3 lost). F8 (Dec 23, 2025) QZS-5 lost to 2nd-stage relight anomaly. |
| Total flights | 7as of [2] | ~78as of [2] ↑ Best | 8as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$14,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$15M list price / 1,030 kg LEO | — | ~$5,500/kgas of [1]Target unit price ¥5B (~$35M at ¥145/$); roughly half H-IIA's per-launch cost ↓ 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. | China's most-used sun-synchronous and polar orbit workhorse for small-to-medium military and commercial Earth observation satellites. Launched from Jiuquan and Taiyuan. Uses storable hypergolic propellants for high launch-readiness but produces toxic exhaust. | Japan's next-generation flagship rocket designed to halve H-IIA costs. Uses three LE-9 engines burning liquid hydrogen — the highest-performing expander-cycle engines in the world. First successful flight was TF2 (Feb 17, 2024). HTV-X1 cargo mission to ISS (Oct 2025) demonstrated operational readiness. |
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.