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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | CASC / CALT | Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) / CASC | LandSpace |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Medium | Medium |
| Propellant | UDMH/N₂O₄ (stages 1–2) + LH₂/LOX (stage 3 YF-75) | RP-1 / LOX | Methalox (LOX / liquid methane) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 1996 | 2024 | 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | 11,200 kgas of [1] | 12,000 kgas of [1]At 200 km altitude; 10,000 kg at 300 km. ↑ Best | 6,000 kgas of [1]4,000 kg to 500 km SSO. Enhanced variant of the base Zhuque-2 with a common-bulkhead tank, TQ-15 thrust-vectoring engine on stage 2, and a niobium-alloy nozzle extension. A further-improved Block 2 first flew 2026-05-14 with subcooled propellant loading and a 3-ignition second stage. |
| Payload to GTO | 5,500 kgas of [1]With 4 strap-on liquid boosters (CZ-3B/E enhanced variant) ↑ Best | — | — |
| Height | 54.84 mas of [1] | 62 mas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Liftoff mass | 426 tas of [1]Enhanced variant with 4 liquid strap-on boosters | 433 tas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Success rate | ~95%as of [2]~6 failures/partial failures out of ~105+ flights; gradually being superseded by Long March 5 for GTO | 100% (6/6)as of [1] | 100% since 2024-11-27 debutas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Total flights | ~105as of [2] ↑ Best | 6as of [1]All six flights deployed Guowang (China SatNet) internet-constellation satellites, exclusively from Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site. | 2+ (2E variant)as of [1] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | 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. | A medium-lift, kerosene/LOX launcher built specifically to deploy China's Guowang mega-constellation at high cadence from Wenchang's new commercial pads. | LandSpace's enhanced methalox launcher, the higher-performance successor to the original Zhuque-2 (the first methalox rocket ever to reach orbit, in 2023) — see slug 'zhuque-2' for the original vehicle already in our database. |
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.