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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | Nuri (KSLV-II) 🇰🇷 South Korea Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | KARI / Hanwha Aerospace | CASC / SAST | JAXA / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
| Country | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 🇨🇳 China | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Medium | Heavy |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX (KRE-075 engines all stages) | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic all stages) | LH₂ / LOX (LE-9 first stage + LE-5B-3 second stage) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2021 | 1992 | 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | 2,600 kgas of [1]600 km SSO target orbit | 3,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~1,300 kg; standard LEO 3,500 kg | 16,500 kgas of [1]H3-24 (2 SRB-3 + 4 LE-9 engines) configuration. H3-30 baseline: 16,500 kg. ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | 6,500 kgas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Height | 47.2 mas of [1] | 41.06 mas of [1] | 57 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 200 tas of [1] | 232 tas of [1] | 574 tas of [1]H3-24S configuration ↑ Best |
| Success rate | 75%as of [2]3/4 full successes: TF1 (Oct 2021) partial, TF2 (Jun 2022) success, TF3 (May 2023) success, TF4 (Nov 27, 2025 — first Hanwha-led production launch) success | 98.7%as of [2]~77/78 successes; one known failure (CZ-2D Y7, Mar 1995 upper-stage anomaly) ↑ Best | 75%as of [2]~6/8 successes. TF1 (Feb 2023) first flight failure (LE-9 ignition issue, DAICHI-3 lost). F8 (Dec 23, 2025) QZS-5 lost to 2nd-stage relight anomaly. |
| Total flights | 4as of [2] | ~78as of [2] ↑ Best | 8as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | ~$5,500/kgas of [1]Target unit price ¥5B (~$35M at ¥145/$); roughly half H-IIA's per-launch cost ↓ Cheapest |
| Summary | South Korea's first domestically developed and produced launch vehicle, designed entirely without foreign engine technology. Nuri TF4 (Nov 2025) was the first launch managed by Hanwha Aerospace rather than KARI — marking the transition to commercial operation. KASA (Korea Aerospace Administration) took over programme oversight in 2024. | China's most-used sun-synchronous and polar orbit workhorse for small-to-medium military and commercial Earth observation satellites. Launched from Jiuquan and Taiyuan. Uses storable hypergolic propellants for high launch-readiness but produces toxic exhaust. | Japan's next-generation flagship rocket designed to halve H-IIA costs. Uses three LE-9 engines burning liquid hydrogen — the highest-performing expander-cycle engines in the world. First successful flight was TF2 (Feb 17, 2024). HTV-X1 cargo mission to ISS (Oct 2025) demonstrated operational readiness. |
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.