Pick up to 4 launch vehicles to compare side-by-side. State lives in the URL — share the link and the comparison loads exactly as you left it.
The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | PLD Space | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) | Galactic Energy |
| Country | 🇪🇸 Spain | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | In Development | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Small | Small |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | Solid (3 stages) + liquid upper stage | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage |
| Reusable | Yes | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| First flight | 2026 | 2020 | 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. | 1,500 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 35.7 mas of [1] ↑ Best | — | 20 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 69 tas of [1] | 78 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable. ↑ Best | 33 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | — | 80% (4/5)as of [1]Debut flight (2020-07-10) failed; returned to flight 2022-12-07 successfully. ↑ Best | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] |
| Total flights | — | 5as 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. | The larger sibling of Kuaizhou-1A, roughly 3.75x the payload class, road-mobile and solid-fueled, recovering commercial cadence after a 2020 debut failure. | 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.