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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | Long March 8 (incl. 8A) 🇨🇳 China Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Space One | Orienspace | China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) / CASC |
| Country | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | In Development | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Medium | Medium |
| Propellant | Solid | Solid (HTPB) — three core stages + four strap-on boosters | RP-1 / LOX (stage 1); LH2/LOX (stage 2) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| First flight | 2024 | 2024 | 2020 |
| Payload to LEO | — | 6,500 kgas of [1]~4,200 kg to 500 km SSO | 8,100 kgas of [1]5,000 kg to 700 km SSO (base); the enlarged-second-stage 8A variant (first flew 2025-02-11) lifts 7,000 kg to the same SSO reference orbit. ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | — | 30 mas of [1] | 50.3 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | — | ~400 tas of [1] | 356 t (base); 371 t (8A)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | 0/3 — three consecutive failuresas of [1]2024-03-13: disintegrated shortly after liftoff. 2024-12-18: began tumbling during 1st-stage burn, flight terminated. 2026-03-04: flight termination activated ~70 seconds after liftoff. All three launches flew from Spaceport Kii, Wakayama — Japan's first private-sector spaceport. Program grounded as of this research; precise payload/height/mass specs not confirmed from a primary source. | 100%as of [2]2/2 successes: maiden flight Jan 11, 2024; second flight Oct 2025 delivered 3 commercial satellites to SSO | 100% (16/16 combined base + 8A)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 3as of [1] | 2as of [2]Both flights launched from a barge in the Yellow Sea off Haiyang, Shandong | 16 (base + 8A combined)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | A Japanese commercial solid-fuel small launcher that has failed on all three flight attempts through March 2026, putting its commercial viability in serious question. | The world's most powerful solid-propellant launch vehicle and the largest rocket yet flown from a sea platform. Orienspace's barge-launched Gravity-1 gives Chinese commercial customers a mobile, weather-flexible ride for mid-inclination smallsat batches; both flights to date succeeded. | A two-stage medium-lift launcher originally designed with a reusable combined-booster-recovery concept in mind, though currently operational vehicles fly expendable. Exclusively from Wenchang. |
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.