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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) | CASC / CALT | United Launch Alliance |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Active | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Small | Heavy | Heavy |
| Propellant | Solid (3 stages) + liquid-fueled 4th stage | UDMH/N₂O₄ (stages 1–2) + LH₂/LOX (stage 3 YF-75) | LH2 / LOX |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| First flight | 2017 | 1996 | 2004 – 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | 400 kgas of [1] | 11,200 kgas of [1] | 28,370 kgas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | 5,500 kgas of [1]With 4 strap-on liquid boosters (CZ-3B/E enhanced variant) ↑ Best | — |
| Height | 19.4 mas of [1] | 54.84 mas of [1] | 70.7 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 30 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable — road-mobile solid launcher. | 426 tas of [1]Enhanced variant with 4 liquid strap-on boosters | 733 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | ~85% (23 successes, 3 failures, 1 partial failure of 27)as of [1] ↑ Best | ~95%as of [2]~6 failures/partial failures out of ~105+ flights; gradually being superseded by Long March 5 for GTO | 93.75% (15/16 full success, 1 partial failure)as of [1] |
| Total flights | 27as of [1] | ~105as of [2] ↑ Best | 16as of [1] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | CASIC's road-mobile, quick-response small solid launcher, operated commercially by ExPace since 2017 — one of the higher-cadence Chinese small-lift vehicles. | China's primary geostationary transfer vehicle for over 25 years. Launched communications, meteorology, and navigation satellites including Beidou-3 (GEO/IGSO nodes). Being phased out in favour of Long March 5 for heavier GTO payloads as newer domestic communications satellites grow in mass. | ULA's triple-common-booster-core heavy-lift launcher, retired 2024-04-09 after its final flight; superseded by Vulcan Centaur, which ULA states offers similar heavy-lift capability at lower cost. |
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.