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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | Nuri (KSLV-II) 🇰🇷 South Korea Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | CASC / SAST | Firefly Aerospace | KARI / Hanwha Aerospace |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic all stages) | RP-1 / LOX | RP-1 / LOX (KRE-075 engines all stages) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| First flight | 1992 | 2021 | 2021 |
| Payload to LEO | 3,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~1,300 kg; standard LEO 3,500 kg ↑ Best | 1,030 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~630 kg | 2,600 kgas of [1]600 km SSO target orbit |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 41.06 mas of [1] | 29 mas of [1] | 47.2 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 232 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 54 tas of [1] | 200 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 98.7%as of [2]~77/78 successes; one known failure (CZ-2D Y7, Mar 1995 upper-stage anomaly) ↑ Best | 43%as of [2]3/7 full successes (FLTA003 Jul 2023, FLTA005 Dec 2024, FLTA007 Mar 2026) + 2 partial successes + 2 failures through FLTA007 | 75%as of [2]3/4 full successes: TF1 (Oct 2021) partial, TF2 (Jun 2022) success, TF3 (May 2023) success, TF4 (Nov 27, 2025 — first Hanwha-led production launch) success |
| Total flights | ~78as of [2] ↑ Best | 7as of [2] | 4as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$14,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$15M list price / 1,030 kg LEO ↓ Cheapest | — |
| Summary | China's most-used sun-synchronous and polar orbit workhorse for small-to-medium military and commercial Earth observation satellites. Launched from Jiuquan and Taiyuan. Uses storable hypergolic propellants for high launch-readiness but produces toxic exhaust. | Firefly Aerospace's two-stage small-lift rocket powered by four Reaver engines at sea level and one Lightning engine in vacuum. Also provides launch services for NASA's CLPS programme (Blue Ghost lander launched on Falcon 9). FLTA007 'Stairway to Seven' succeeded Mar 11, 2026. | South Korea's first domestically developed and produced launch vehicle, designed entirely without foreign engine technology. Nuri TF4 (Nov 2025) was the first launch managed by Hanwha Aerospace rather than KARI — marking the transition to commercial operation. KASA (Korea Aerospace Administration) took over programme oversight in 2024. |
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.