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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Avio | Galactic Energy | CASC / CALT |
| Country | 🇪🇺 Europe | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | In Development | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Small | Heavy |
| Propellant | Solid (P160C first stage) / LOX-methane (cryogenic upper stage) | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | LH₂ / LOX (YF-77 core) + RP-1/LOX (YF-100 boosters) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| First flight | 2027 | 2020 | 2016 |
| Payload to LEO | — | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. | 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 | — | 20 mas of [1] | 56.97 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | — | 33 tas of [1] | 869 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | — | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] | 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 | — | 23as of [1] ↑ Best | 17as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$4.5M per launchas of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest | — |
| Summary | 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. | 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. | 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.