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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Isar Aerospace | Rocket Lab | CASC / CALT |
| Country | 🇩🇪 Germany | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | In Development | In Development | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Medium | Heavy |
| Propellant | LOX / kerosene (~80% manufactured in-house) | CH₄ / LOX | LH₂ / LOX (YF-77 core) + RP-1/LOX (YF-100 boosters) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2025 | 2026 | 2016 |
| Payload to LEO | 1,000 kgas of [1] | 13,000 kgas of [1]Reusable configuration with downrange barge landing — this is the single payload figure Rocket Lab publishes. ~15,000 kg expendable. | 25,000 kgas of [1]CZ-5B variant (no upper stage) delivers 25,000 kg LEO for Tiangong station modules ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | 14,000 kgas of [1]CZ-5 variant (with YF-75D upper stage) ↑ Best |
| Height | — | 43 mas of [1] | 56.97 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | — | ~481 tas of [1] | 869 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | 0/1 (first flight failed)as of [1]First flight from Andøya Spaceport (2025-03-30): liftoff succeeded but the rocket was terminated ~30 seconds in after a vent valve opened unexpectedly, causing loss of attitude control. Second flight ('Onward and Upward') repeatedly delayed through 2026 (weather, a safety-zone fishing vessel, a composite pressure vessel leak, then off-nominal fluid-system behavior as of 2026-06-15) — not yet flown as of this research. | — | 94.1%as of [2]16/17 successes (10 CZ-5 + 7 CZ-5B). Failure: CZ-5 Y2 (Jul 2017, engine anomaly); loss of Shijian-18 satellite. ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 1as of [1] | — | 17as of [2] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | Germany's first orbital-class launcher attempt; its first flight in March 2025 was Western Europe's first orbital launch attempt from the European mainland. A qualification second flight carrying CubeSats and ESA experiments has slipped repeatedly through 2026. | 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. | China's most powerful operational rocket and the backbone of its flagship space programs. Launched Tianwen-1 to Mars, Chang'e 5 sample return, Chang'e 6 far-side sample return, all Tiangong core and lab modules, and the Xuntian space telescope. The CZ-5B variant delivers entire station modules in a single flight. |
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.