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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | PLD Space | United Launch Alliance | Galactic Energy |
| Country | 🇪🇸 Spain | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | In Development | Retired | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Heavy | Small |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | LH2 / LOX | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage |
| Reusable | Yes | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| First flight | 2026 | 2004 – 2024 | 2020 |
| Payload to LEO | 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. | 28,370 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 35.7 mas of [1] | 70.7 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 20 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 69 tas of [1] | 733 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 33 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | — | 93.75% (15/16 full success, 1 partial failure)as of [1] ↑ Best | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] |
| Total flights | — | 16as of [1] | 23as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | ~$4.5M per launchas of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest |
| Summary | 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. | ULA's triple-common-booster-core heavy-lift launcher, retired 2024-04-09 after its final flight; superseded by Vulcan Centaur, which ULA states offers similar heavy-lift capability at lower cost. | Galactic Energy's workhorse small-lift solid rocket — one of the most-flown Chinese commercial launchers — with a sea-launch variant (Ceres-1S, debuted Sep 2023) and a larger Ceres-2 in development. |
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.