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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | CASC / SAST | PLD Space | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇪🇸 Spain | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | In Development | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Small | Small |
| Propellant | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic all stages) | RP-1 / LOX | Solid (3 stages) + liquid upper stage |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| First flight | 1992 | 2026 | 2020 |
| Payload to LEO | 3,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~1,300 kg; standard LEO 3,500 kg ↑ Best | 1,080 kgas of [1]540 kg to SSO. First flight is a stated plan (targeted Q1 2026 as of this research; not yet confirmed flown) — treat as a target, not a fact. | 1,500 kgas of [1] |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 41.06 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 35.7 mas of [1] | — |
| Liftoff mass | 232 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 69 tas of [1] | 78 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable. |
| Success rate | 98.7%as of [2]~77/78 successes; one known failure (CZ-2D Y7, Mar 1995 upper-stage anomaly) | — | 80% (4/5)as of [1]Debut flight (2020-07-10) failed; returned to flight 2022-12-07 successfully. ↑ Best |
| Total flights | ~78as of [2] ↑ Best | — | 5as of [1] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| 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. | PLD Space's orbital small launcher with a recoverable first stage (engine thrust + parachutes), developed with ESA Future Launchers Preparatory Programme support; primary launch site is the Guiana Space Centre. | The larger sibling of Kuaizhou-1A, roughly 3.75x the payload class, road-mobile and solid-fueled, recovering commercial cadence after a 2020 debut failure. |
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.