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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Avio | Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) / CASC | Northrop Grumman |
| Country | 🇪🇺 Europe | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | In Development | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Small | Medium | Medium |
| Propellant | Solid (P160C first stage) / LOX-methane (cryogenic upper stage) | RP-1 / LOX | RP-1 / LOX (RD-181 first stage) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2027 | 2024 | 2013 – 2023 |
| Payload to LEO | — | 12,000 kgas of [1]At 200 km altitude; 10,000 kg at 300 km. ↑ Best | 8,000 kgas of [1]Antares 230+ configuration; primarily used for ~3,500–3,800 kg Cygnus cargo |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | — | 62 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 41 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | — | 433 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 298 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | — | 100% (6/6)as of [1] ↑ Best | 91.7%as of [2]11/12 successes; Orb-3 (CRS-3) exploded at liftoff Oct 2014 |
| Total flights | — | 6as of [1]All six flights deployed Guowang (China SatNet) internet-constellation satellites, exclusively from Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site. | 12as of [2]Final Antares flight was NG-19 (Aug 1, 2023). NG-20+ moved to Falcon 9 due to Antares RD-181 engine supply disruption (Russia sanctions). ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| 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. | A medium-lift, kerosene/LOX launcher built specifically to deploy China's Guowang mega-constellation at high cadence from Wenchang's new commercial pads. | Primary launch vehicle for Cygnus ISS cargo missions from 2013–2023. Its Ukrainian-built Zenit-derived first stage and Russian RD-181 engines became untenable after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Northrop switched NG-20 onward to Falcon 9 while Antares 330 (with Firefly Miranda engines) is in development. |
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.