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 | ISRO | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) | RKTs Progress |
| Country | 🇮🇳 India | 🇨🇳 China | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | Solid (PS1/PS3) + UDMH/N₂O₄ (PS2/PS4) — 4 alternating stages | Solid (3 stages) + liquid-fueled 4th stage | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| First flight | 1993 | 2017 | 2026 |
| Payload to LEO | 3,800 kgas of [1]PSLV-XL with 6 extended solid strap-ons. Standard PSLV-G: 3,250 kg LEO. SSO: ~1,750 kg | 400 kgas of [1] | 18,000 kgas of [1]Uncrewed configuration. ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 44 mas of [1] | 19.4 mas of [1] | 61.9 m (uncrewed) / 65.9 m (crewed variant)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 320 tas of [1]PSLV-XL configuration | 30 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable — road-mobile solid launcher. | 530 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| 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). | ~85% (23 successes, 3 failures, 1 partial failure of 27)as of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Total flights | 64as of [2] ↑ Best | 27as of [1] | 1 (suborbital test)as of [1]First flight 2026-04-30 was a suborbital test, not yet a full orbital mission per this source. |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$4,000/kgas of [1]Estimated from commercial launch contracts ↓ Cheapest | — | — |
| Summary | 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. The vehicle is on a return-to-flight campaign (not retired): PSLV-C63 (TDS-01 technology demonstrator), with strengthened third-stage/PS3 checks following the expert-committee (FAC) review, is targeted for late June / early July 2026. | CASIC's road-mobile, quick-response small solid launcher, operated commercially by ExPace since 2017 — one of the higher-cadence Chinese small-lift vehicles. | Russia's replacement for the Ukrainian-built Zenit, restoring medium-lift capability lost after 2014. Uses the RD-171MV — described as the most powerful liquid-fuel rocket engine in the world — on its first stage, launching from Baikonur. |
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.