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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | JAXA / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | RKTs Progress | Gilmour Space Technologies |
| Country | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇷🇺 Russia | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| Status | Active | Active | In Development |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Medium | Small |
| Propellant | LH₂ / LOX (LE-9 first stage + LE-5B-3 second stage) | RP-1 / LOX | Hybrid (Sirius motors, stages 1–2) / liquid (Phoenix engine, stage 3) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| First flight | 2023 | 2026 | 2025 |
| Payload to LEO | 16,500 kgas of [1]H3-24 (2 SRB-3 + 4 LE-9 engines) configuration. H3-30 baseline: 16,500 kg. | 18,000 kgas of [1]Uncrewed configuration. ↑ Best | 300 kgas of [1] |
| Payload to GTO | 6,500 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | — | — |
| Height | 57 mas of [1] | 61.9 m (uncrewed) / 65.9 m (crewed variant)as of [1] ↑ Best | 25 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 574 tas of [1]H3-24S configuration ↑ Best | 530 tas of [1] | — |
| Success rate | 78%as of [2]~7/9 successes. TF1 (Mar 7, 2023) first flight failure (2nd-stage ignition, DAICHI-3 lost). F8 (Dec 23, 2025) QZS-5 lost to 2nd-stage relight anomaly. H3-30 maiden flight (Jun 12, 2026) successful. ↑ Best | — | 0/1as of [1]Maiden flight 2025-07-30 crashed 14 seconds after launch (insufficient thrust), from Bowen Orbital Spaceport, Queensland — Australia's first domestic orbital launch attempt. Preceded by two scrubs (2025-05-15 electrical issue, 2025-05-16 fairing anomaly). A second test flight was slated for early 2026. Block 2 (1,000 kg payload) and Eris Heavy (4,000 kg payload) variants are planned. |
| Total flights | 9as of [3]Includes the H3-30 (three LE-9 engines, no SRBs) maiden flight on Jun 12, 2026 ↑ Best | 1 (suborbital test)as of [1]First flight 2026-04-30 was a suborbital test, not yet a full orbital mission per this source. | 1as of [1] |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$5,500/kgas of [1]Target unit price ¥5B (~$35M at ¥145/$); roughly half H-IIA's per-launch cost ↓ Cheapest | — | — |
| Summary | Japan's next-generation flagship rocket designed to halve H-IIA costs. Uses LE-9 engines burning liquid hydrogen — the highest-performing expander-cycle engines in the world. First flight TF1 (Mar 7, 2023) failed; first success was TF2 (Feb 17, 2024). HTV-X1 cargo mission to ISS (Oct 2025) demonstrated operational readiness, and the solid-booster-free H3-30 variant debuted Jun 12, 2026. | Russia's replacement for the Ukrainian-built Zenit, restoring medium-lift capability lost after 2014. Uses the RD-171MV — described as the most powerful liquid-fuel rocket engine in the world — on its first stage, launching from Baikonur. | Australia's first domestically developed orbital launch vehicle attempt, using a hybrid-propellant first and second stage; the maiden flight failed 14 seconds after liftoff in July 2025. |
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.