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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | Electron 🇳🇿 New Zealand / USA Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | CASC / CALT | Rocket Lab | LandSpace |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇳🇿 New Zealand / USA | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX (YF-100 + YF-115) | RP-1 / LOX | CH₄ / LOX (Tianque-12 + Tianque-15 upper stage) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2016 | 2017 | 2022 |
| Payload to LEO | 13,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~5,500 kg ↑ Best | 300 kgas of [1]~200 kg reusable mode (lower due to propellant reserved for re-entry burn) | 6,000 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~4,000 kg |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 53.1 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 18 mas of [1] | 49.5 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 597 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 13 tas of [1] | 219 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 100%as of [2]12/12 missions, all Tianzhou ISS resupply or CZ-7 tech demo flights ↑ Best | 95.4%as of [2]83/87 orbital successes; 21/21 success rate in 2025 calendar year per Rocket Lab investor release | 75%as of [2]3/4 full successes; ZQ-2 Y1 (Dec 2022) reached orbit on stage 1 but 2nd stage failed; ZQ-2 Y2 (Jul 2023) SUCCESS — world's first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit |
| Total flights | 12as of [2]Most recently Tianzhou-10 cargo to Tiangong (May 11, 2026) | 87as of [2] ↑ Best | 4as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$25,000/kgas of [1]Based on ~$7.5M list price / 300 kg payload ↓ Cheapest | — |
| Summary | China's workhorse medium-lift rocket, used exclusively for Tianzhou automated cargo missions to the Tiangong space station. Designed to replace the Long March 2F for high-cadence LEO/cargo missions. Uses the same YF-100 engines as Long March 5's boosters. | The world's most commercially active small launch vehicle, designed and built in-house at Rocket Lab. Rutherford engines are the first flight-proven engines made with additive manufacturing (metal 3D printing). Booster recovery via parachute and helicopter catch (later transitioned to ocean recovery). | The world's first methane-fueled rocket to achieve orbit (July 12, 2023), beating SpaceX Starship to that milestone. A commercial Chinese rocket built by LandSpace with vertically-integrated methane propulsion — the same propellant strategy as Starship, Neutron, and Terran R. |
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.