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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle) 🇮🇳 India Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | Electron 🇳🇿 New Zealand / USA Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-06-28Remove × | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | ISRO / Hindustan Aeronautics Limited | Galactic Energy | Rocket Lab |
| Country | 🇮🇳 India | 🇨🇳 China | 🇳🇿 New Zealand / USA |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Small | Small |
| Propellant | Solid (HTPB, stages 1–3) / MMH-MON3 liquid (velocity trimming module) | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | No | No | Yes |
| Stages | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| First flight | 2022 | 2020 | 2017 |
| Payload to LEO | 500 kgas of [1]500 km altitude, 35–55° inclination. 300 kg to 500 km SSO. ↑ Best | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. | 300 kgas of [1]~200 kg reusable mode (lower due to propellant reserved for re-entry burn) |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 34 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 20 mas of [1] | 18 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 120 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 33 tas of [1] | 13 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 2/3 (67%)as of [1]First flight (Aug 2022) partial failure — satellites reached a lower-than-planned orbit. Second and third flights successful. ↑ Best | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] | 95.6%as of [3]87 successes / 91 Electron-family flights. Orbital Electron alone: 78/82 (95.1%). HASTE: 9/9. On a 50-flight success streak since December 2023; 21/21 in the 2025 calendar year. |
| Total flights | 3as of [1] | 23as of [1] | 91as of [3]91 Electron-family flights: 82 orbital plus 9 suborbital HASTE. Reconciled against three 10-K cumulative checkpoints (38/54/75 successes through 2023/2024/2025). Rocket Lab counts HASTE inside its own 'Electron launched N times' figure. ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | ₹30–35 crore per launch (~$3.1M–$3.6M)as of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. | ~$4.5M per launchas of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest | ~$25,000/kgas of [1]Based on ~$7.5M list price / 300 kg payload |
| Summary | ISRO's small-satellite launcher, designed for quick-turnaround dedicated smallsat missions. Full manufacturing, marketing and launch rights were transferred to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in June 2025 under a technology-transfer agreement. | Galactic Energy's workhorse small-lift solid rocket — one of the most-flown Chinese commercial launchers — with a sea-launch variant (Ceres-1S, debuted Sep 2023) and a larger Ceres-2 in development. | The world's most commercially active small launch vehicle, designed and built in-house at Rocket Lab. Rutherford engines are the first flight-proven engines made with additive manufacturing (metal 3D printing). Booster recovery via parachute and helicopter catch (later transitioned to ocean recovery). |
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.