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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Rocket Lab | Interstellar Technologies | LandSpace |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | In Development | In Development | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | CH₄ / LOX | Liquid biomethane (LBM) / LOX | CH₄ / LOX (9× TQ-12B first stage; TQ-15B vacuum upper stage) |
| Reusable | Yes | No | Yes |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2026 | 2027 | 2025 |
| Payload to LEO | 13,000 kgas of [1]Reusable configuration with downrange barge landing — this is the single payload figure Rocket Lab publishes. ~15,000 kg expendable. | 250 kgas of [1]500 km SSO. No flight attempts as of this research — follows the company's successful suborbital MOMO sounding-rocket program. A larger orbital vehicle, DECA, was announced January 2023. | 21,000 kgas of [1]Expendable; ~18,300 kg with first-stage recovery ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 43 mas of [1] | — | 76.2 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | ~481 tas of [1] | — | ~660 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | — | — | 100%as of [2]1/1 orbital successes (Y1, Dec 3, 2025). First-stage recovery failed — abnormal combustion during the landing burn crashed the booster near the landing zone. ↑ Best |
| Total flights | — | — | 1as of [3]Second orbital launch and recovery attempt targeted Q2 2026 per LandSpace ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| 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. | A liquid-biomethane orbital smallsat launcher from Interstellar Technologies, Japan's most established private rocket startup by suborbital flight heritage, though not yet flown to orbit. | LandSpace's stainless-steel, reusable methalox rocket — China's closest analogue to Falcon 9. The Y1 debut (Dec 3, 2025) reached orbit on the first attempt but lost the booster during its landing attempt; a second flight with another recovery attempt is targeted for Q2 2026. |
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.