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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | PLD Space | JAXA / IHI Aerospace | CASC / SAST |
| Country | 🇪🇸 Spain | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | In Development | Retired | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | Solid (HTPB — all stages) | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic all stages) |
| Reusable | Yes | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| First flight | 2026 | 2013 – 2022 | 1992 |
| 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. | 590 kgas of [1]500 kg to SSO. Enhanced Epsilon (from E-4) added 700 kg LEO via PBS liquid kick stage. | 3,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~1,300 kg; standard LEO 3,500 kg ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 35.7 mas of [1] | 26 mas of [1] | 41.06 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 69 tas of [1] | 96 tas of [1] | 232 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | — | 83.3%as of [2]5/6 successes. E-6 (Oct 12, 2022) PBS upper stage failed to ignite, eight satellites lost. Epsilon S (next-generation) ground test anomaly Jan 2023 effectively ended the programme. | 98.7%as of [2]~77/78 successes; one known failure (CZ-2D Y7, Mar 1995 upper-stage anomaly) ↑ Best |
| Total flights | — | 6as of [2] | ~78as of [2] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| 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. | JAXA's small solid-fuel rocket derived from the M-V rocket heritage. Designed for highly autonomous operations — launch preparations could be managed by just 8 people. The sixth and final E-6 mission (Oct 2022) failed when the PBS kick stage didn't ignite; a ground explosion during Epsilon S testing (Jan 2023) ended the programme. | 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. |
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.