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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | RKTs Progress | JAXA / IHI Aerospace | Avio |
| Country | 🇷🇺 Russia | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇪🇺 Europe |
| Status | Active | Retired | In Development |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Small | Small |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | Solid (HTPB — all stages) | Solid (P160C first stage) / LOX-methane (cryogenic upper stage) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| First flight | 2026 | 2013 – 2022 | 2027 |
| Payload to LEO | 18,000 kgas of [1]Uncrewed configuration. ↑ Best | 590 kgas of [1]500 kg to SSO. Enhanced Epsilon (from E-4) added 700 kg LEO via PBS liquid kick stage. | — |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 61.9 m (uncrewed) / 65.9 m (crewed variant)as of [1] ↑ Best | 26 mas of [1] | — |
| Liftoff mass | 530 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 96 tas of [1] | — |
| Success rate | — | 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. ↑ Best | — |
| Total flights | 1 (suborbital test)as of [1]First flight 2026-04-30 was a suborbital test, not yet a full orbital mission per this source. | 6as of [2] ↑ Best | — |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | 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. | 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. | The next evolution of ESA's Vega line: replaces the Zefiro-9 and AVUM+ stages with a single cryogenic LOX/methane upper stage powered by the new M10 engine, adding multi-orbit deployment flexibility. First flight is a stated target (2027), not yet flown. |
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.