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 | Blue Origin | JAXA / IHI Aerospace | CASC / CALT |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Retired | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Small | Heavy |
| Propellant | LNG / LOX (BE-4); LH₂ / LOX (BE-3U second stage) | Solid (HTPB — all stages) | UDMH/N₂O₄ (stages 1–2) + LH₂/LOX (stage 3 YF-75) |
| Reusable | Yes | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| First flight | 2025 | 2013 – 2022 | 1996 |
| Payload to LEO | 45,000 kgas of [1]Reusable first stage; expendable ~45,000 kg. GTO (reusable) ~13,000 kg. ↑ Best | 590 kgas of [1]500 kg to SSO. Enhanced Epsilon (from E-4) added 700 kg LEO via PBS liquid kick stage. | 11,200 kgas of [1] |
| Payload to GTO | 13,000 kgas of [1]Reusable first stage configuration ↑ Best | — | 5,500 kgas of [1]With 4 strap-on liquid boosters (CZ-3B/E enhanced variant) |
| Height | 98 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 26 mas of [1] | 54.84 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 1,016 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 96 tas of [1] | 426 tas of [1]Enhanced variant with 4 liquid strap-on boosters |
| 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 | 83.3%as of [2]5/6 successes. E-6 (Oct 12, 2022) PBS upper stage failed to ignite, eight satellites lost. Epsilon S (next-generation) ground test anomaly Jan 2023 effectively ended the programme. | ~95%as of [2]~6 failures/partial failures out of ~105+ flights; gradually being superseded by Long March 5 for GTO ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 3as of [2] | 6as of [2] | ~105as of [2] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$1,500/kgas of [1]Estimated from ~$67M commercial pricing / 45,000 kg payload capacity ↓ Cheapest | — | — |
| Summary | 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. | JAXA's small solid-fuel rocket derived from the M-V rocket heritage. Designed for highly autonomous operations — launch preparations could be managed by just 8 people. The sixth and final E-6 mission (Oct 2022) failed when the PBS kick stage didn't ignite; a ground explosion during Epsilon S testing (Jan 2023) ended the programme. | China's primary geostationary transfer vehicle for over 25 years. Launched communications, meteorology, and navigation satellites including Beidou-3 (GEO/IGSO nodes). Being phased out in favour of Long March 5 for heavier GTO payloads as newer domestic communications satellites grow in mass. |
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.