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 | SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle) 🇮🇳 India Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | ISRO / Hindustan Aeronautics Limited | Avio / Arianespace | CASC / CALT |
| Country | 🇮🇳 India | 🇪🇺 Europe | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | Solid (HTPB, stages 1–3) / MMH-MON3 liquid (velocity trimming module) | Solid (HTPB + ammonium perchlorate all four stages) | RP-1 / LOX (YF-100 + YF-115) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| First flight | 2022 | 2022 | 2016 |
| Payload to LEO | 500 kgas of [1]500 km altitude, 35–55° inclination. 300 kg to 500 km SSO. | 2,300 kgas of [1]SSO: ~1,700 kg | 13,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~5,500 kg ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 34 mas of [1] | 35 mas of [1] | 53.1 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 120 tas of [1] | 210 tas of [1] | 597 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| 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 | 75%as of [2]6/8 successes; VV22 (Dec 2022) Zefiro-40 failure destroyed Pléiades Neo 5&6; returned to flight VV25 (Dec 2024). 3 successes in 2025. | 100%as of [2]12/12 missions, all Tianzhou ISS resupply or CZ-7 tech demo flights |
| Total flights | 3as of [1] | 8as of [2] | 12as of [2]Most recently Tianzhou-10 cargo to Tiangong (May 11, 2026) ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | ₹30–35 crore per launch (~$3.1M–$3.6M)as of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. | ~$16,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$38M list price / 2,300 kg ↓ Cheapest | — |
| 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. | Europe's primary small satellite launcher derived from Vega. The P120C first-stage motor is shared with Ariane 6's solid strap-on boosters. Avio took over programme management from Arianespace in Dec 2025. | China's workhorse medium-lift rocket, used exclusively for Tianzhou automated cargo missions to the Tiangong space station. Designed to replace the Long March 2F for high-cadence LEO/cargo missions. Uses the same YF-100 engines as Long March 5's boosters. |
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.