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 | Rocket Lab | ISRO | Avio / Arianespace |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇮🇳 India | 🇪🇺 Europe |
| Status | In Development | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Medium | Small |
| Propellant | CH₄ / LOX | Solid (PS1/PS3) + UDMH/N₂O₄ (PS2/PS4) — 4 alternating stages | Solid (HTPB + ammonium perchlorate all four stages) |
| Reusable | Yes | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| First flight | 2026 | 1993 | 2022 |
| Payload to LEO | 13,000 kgas of [1]Expendable; ~8,000 kg reusable with first-stage return ↑ Best | 3,800 kgas of [1]PSLV-XL with 6 extended solid strap-ons. Standard PSLV-G: 3,250 kg LEO. SSO: ~1,750 kg | 2,300 kgas of [1]SSO: ~1,700 kg |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | ~40 mas of [1] | 44 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 35 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | ~481 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 320 tas of [1]PSLV-XL configuration | 210 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | — | 93.7%as of [2]60/64 mission successes. Two consecutive recent failures: C61 (2024) and C62 (Jan 12, 2026, stage-3 anomaly, 16 satellites lost). ↑ Best | 75%as of [2]6/8 successes; VV22 (Dec 2022) Zefiro-40 failure destroyed Pléiades Neo 5&6; returned to flight VV25 (Dec 2024). 3 successes in 2025. |
| Total flights | — | 64as of [2] ↑ Best | 8as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$4,000/kgas of [1]Estimated from commercial launch contracts ↓ Cheapest | ~$16,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$38M list price / 2,300 kg |
| Summary | Rocket Lab's medium-lift reusable rocket targeting the $100B constellation replenishment market. Uses a 'hungry hippo' fairings design that opens at the top rather than traditional clamshell separation. First flight delayed to Q4 2026 after a Jan 2026 propellant tank test anomaly. | India's most reliable and frequently flown launch vehicle, operational since 1994. Set a world record in Feb 2017 by deploying 104 satellites in a single flight (Cartosat-2D + 103 microsats). Launched Chandrayaan-1 (2008), Mars Orbiter Mission (2013), and Aditya-L1 (2023). The dual C61/C62 failure streak raised concerns about aging solid motor design. | Europe's primary small satellite launcher derived from Vega. The P120C first-stage motor is shared with Ariane 6's solid strap-on boosters. Avio took over programme management from Arianespace in Dec 2025. |
28 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.