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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | CASC / CALT | Rocket Lab | Khrunichev / Roscosmos |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| Status | Active | In Development | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Medium | Heavy |
| Propellant | UDMH/N₂O₄ (stages 1–2) + LH₂/LOX (stage 3 YF-75) | CH₄ / LOX | RP-1 / LOX (RD-191, all 5 modules) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 1996 | 2026 | 2014 |
| Payload to LEO | 11,200 kgas of [1] | 13,000 kgas of [1]Expendable; ~8,000 kg reusable with first-stage return | 24,500 kgas of [1]With KVTK cryogenic upper stage (planned); Briz-M gives ~5,400 kg GTO ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | 5,500 kgas of [1]With 4 strap-on liquid boosters (CZ-3B/E enhanced variant) ↑ Best | — | 5,400 kgas of [1]Briz-M upper stage. KVTK would raise this to ~7,500 kg. |
| Height | 54.84 mas of [1] | ~40 mas of [1] | 64 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 426 tas of [1]Enhanced variant with 4 liquid strap-on boosters | ~481 tas of [1] | 773 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| Success rate | ~95%as of [2]~6 failures/partial failures out of ~105+ flights; gradually being superseded by Long March 5 for GTO | — | 100%as of [2]4/4 mission successes: Dec 2014, Dec 2020, Mar 2023, Apr 2024 ↑ Best |
| Total flights | ~105as of [2] ↑ Best | — | 4as of [2] |
| 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. | Rocket Lab's medium-lift reusable rocket targeting the $100B constellation replenishment market. Uses a 'hungry hippo' fairings design that opens at the top rather than traditional clamshell separation. First flight delayed to Q4 2026 after a Jan 2026 propellant tank test anomaly. | Russia's new-generation heavy-lift rocket built entirely of Russian-manufactured components — a political priority after Proton-M's dependence on Ukrainian components. Five URM-1 universal rocket modules share the same propellant (RP-1/LOX), unlike Proton-M's toxic hypergolics. Flight rate remains very low. |
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.