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 | GSLV Mk III (LVM3) 🇮🇳 India Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Remove × | Long March 6 (incl. 6A / 6C variants) 🇨🇳 China Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | ISRO | SAST (Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology) / CASC | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) |
| Country | 🇮🇳 India | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Medium | Small |
| Propellant | Solid (S200 boosters) + UDMH/N₂O₄ (L110) + LH₂/LOX (C25) | RP-1 / LOX (stages 1–2); N2O4/UDMH (stage 3, base variant) | Solid (3 stages) + liquid-fueled 4th stage |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| First flight | 2017 | 2015 | 2017 |
| Payload to LEO | 10,000 kgas of [1] | 1,080 kg to SSO (base Long March 6)as of [1]Long March 6A (4 solid boosters, elongated stage 1): at least 4,000 kg to SSO. Long March 6C: similar class without the boosters. Both variants first flew from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. ↑ Best | 400 kgas of [1] |
| Payload to GTO | 4,000 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | — | — |
| Height | 43.43 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 29 m (base variant)as of [1] | 19.4 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 643 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 103 t (base variant)as of [1] | 30 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable — road-mobile solid launcher. |
| Success rate | 100%as of [2]10/10 missions since development flight 2014 (D1). Production flights since 2017. | 100% (base Long March 6, 15/15)as of [1]6A first flew 2022-03-29, 6C first flew 2024-05-07; both maintain perfect records within their own flight histories as of this date. | ~85% (23 successes, 3 failures, 1 partial failure of 27)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 10as of [2] | 15 (base variant)as of [1] | 27as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$4,500/kgas of [1]Estimated from OneWeb commercial contract ~$450M for 36 satellites (~5 tonne batch to GTO) ↓ Cheapest | — | — |
| Summary | 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. | A family of medium-lift launchers from SAST serving China's growing SSO/LEO commercial and government satellite demand, with the 6A and 6C variants adding solid boosters or a simplified expendable configuration respectively. | 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.