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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | PLD Space | Blue Origin | Gilmour Space Technologies |
| Country | 🇪🇸 Spain | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| Status | In Development | Active | In Development |
| Vehicle class | Small | Heavy | Small |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | LNG / LOX (BE-4); LH₂ / LOX (BE-3U second stage) | Hybrid (Sirius motors, stages 1–2) / liquid (Phoenix engine, stage 3) |
| Reusable | Yes | Yes | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| First flight | 2026 | 2025 | 2025 |
| 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. | 45,000 kgas of [1]Reusable first stage; expendable ~45,000 kg. GTO (reusable) ~13,000 kg. ↑ Best | 300 kgas of [1] |
| Payload to GTO | — | 13,000 kgas of [1]Reusable first stage configuration ↑ Best | — |
| Height | 35.7 mas of [1] | 98 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 25 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 69 tas of [1] | 1,016 tas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Success rate | — | 67%as of [2]NG-1 (Jan 2025) full mission success, booster lost; NG-2 (Nov 2025) success + first Jacklyn booster landing; NG-3 (Apr 2026) partial — payload in wrong orbit, FAA grounded ↑ Best | 0/1as of [1]Maiden flight 2025-07-30 crashed 14 seconds after launch (insufficient thrust), from Bowen Orbital Spaceport, Queensland — Australia's first domestic orbital launch attempt. Preceded by two scrubs (2025-05-15 electrical issue, 2025-05-16 fairing anomaly). A second test flight was slated for early 2026. Block 2 (1,000 kg payload) and Eris Heavy (4,000 kg payload) variants are planned. |
| Total flights | — | 3as of [2] ↑ Best | 1as of [1] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$1,500/kgas of [1]Estimated from ~$67M commercial pricing / 45,000 kg payload capacity ↓ 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. | Blue Origin's first orbital rocket. The 7-meter payload fairing is the widest of any current production rocket. NG-2 (Nov 2025) achieved the company's first booster landing on drone ship Jacklyn. On May 28, 2026 a vehicle was destroyed in a prelaunch static-fire explosion at LC-36. Damage proved less severe than first feared — Blue Origin (CEO Dave Limp) reported the propellant tanks and water tower were undamaged, the launch tower repairable rather than replaced, and stored first/second stages intact, with LC-36 debris cleared within ~9 days. The company has started reconstruction and now targets a return to flight before the end of 2026 (a timeline some observers call aggressive). | Australia's first domestically developed orbital launch vehicle attempt, using a hybrid-propellant first and second stage; the maiden flight failed 14 seconds after liftoff in July 2025. |
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.