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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | JAXA / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | SpaceX | CASC / CALT |
| Country | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Retired | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Heavy | Medium |
| Propellant | LH₂ / LOX (LE-7A first stage + LE-5B second stage) | RP-1 / LOX | RP-1 / LOX (YF-100 + YF-115) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2001 – 2025 | 2018 | 2016 |
| Payload to LEO | 10,000 kgas of [1]202 configuration (2 SRB-A3 solid strap-ons) | 63,800 kgas of [1]Expended side boosters. Fully reusable ~27,500 kg LEO. ↑ Best | 13,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~5,500 kg |
| Payload to GTO | 4,100 kgas of [1]202 configuration | 26,700 kgas of [1]Expendable configuration; reusable ~8,000 kg ↑ Best | — |
| Height | 53 mas of [1] | 70 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 53.1 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 285 tas of [1]202 configuration | 1,421 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 597 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 98%as of [2]49/50 successes. Only failure: F6 (Nov 2003, MTSAT-1R lost due to SRB separation anomaly). Retired after Flight 50 (GOSAT-GW, Jun 28, 2025). | 100%as of [2]12/12 mission successes through Falcon Heavy ViaSat-3 F3 (Apr 29, 2026) ↑ Best | 100%as of [2]12/12 missions, all Tianzhou ISS resupply or CZ-7 tech demo flights ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 50as of [2]50 flights from 2001–2025. H3 replaces it from 2024 onward. ↑ Best | 12as of [2] | 12as of [2]Most recently Tianzhou-10 cargo to Tiangong (May 11, 2026) |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$1,400/kgas of [1]Based on ~$97M list price / 63,800 kg (expendable configuration) ↓ Cheapest | — |
| Summary | Japan's flagship medium-lift rocket for 24 years, retiring after an exceptional 49/50 mission success record. Launched the SELENE lunar orbiter (2007), Akatsuki Venus probe (2010), Hayabusa2 (2014), SLIM lunar lander (2023), and the ALOS series Earth observation satellites. | Currently the most powerful operational rocket in the world. Three Falcon 9 cores sharing propellant cross-feed produce 5.1 MN of sea-level thrust. Primary mission profile: DoD/NRO GEO payloads and planetary science. | China's workhorse medium-lift rocket, used exclusively for Tianzhou automated cargo missions to the Tiangong space station. Designed to replace the Long March 2F for high-cadence LEO/cargo missions. Uses the same YF-100 engines as Long March 5's boosters. |
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.