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 | CASC / CALT | Firefly Aerospace / Northrop Grumman |
| Country | 🇪🇸 Spain | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | In Development | Active | In Development |
| Vehicle class | Small | Medium | Medium |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | RP-1 / LOX (YF-100 + YF-115) | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | Yes | No | Yes |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2026 | 2016 | 2027 |
| 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. | 13,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~5,500 kg | 16,000+ kgas of [1]5 m fairing. Renamed from 'Medium Launch Vehicle' (MLV) to 'Eclipse' in May 2025 alongside the Northrop Grumman partnership. First stage (7 Miranda engines) designed for reuse from roughly the 6th flight onward; second stage uses one Vira engine. First flight targeted 2027 — stated plan, not yet flown. ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 35.7 mas of [1] | 53.1 mas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Liftoff mass | 69 tas of [1] | 597 tas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Success rate | — | 100%as of [2]12/12 missions, all Tianzhou ISS resupply or CZ-7 tech demo flights ↑ Best | — |
| Total flights | — | 12as of [2]Most recently Tianzhou-10 cargo to Tiangong (May 11, 2026) ↑ 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. | 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. | A medium-lift successor to Firefly's Alpha, co-developed with Northrop Grumman, aimed at the national-security and commercial medium-lift gap between small launchers and heavy-lift vehicles. |
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.