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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Avio | Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) / CASC | United Launch Alliance |
| Country | 🇪🇺 Europe | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | In Development | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Small | Medium | Heavy |
| Propellant | Solid (P160C first stage) / LOX-methane (cryogenic upper stage) | RP-1 / LOX | LH2 / LOX |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2027 | 2024 | 2004 – 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | — | 12,000 kgas of [1]At 200 km altitude; 10,000 kg at 300 km. | 28,370 kgas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | — | 62 mas of [1] | 70.7 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | — | 433 tas of [1] | 733 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | — | 100% (6/6)as of [1] ↑ Best | 93.75% (15/16 full success, 1 partial failure)as of [1] |
| Total flights | — | 6as of [1]All six flights deployed Guowang (China SatNet) internet-constellation satellites, exclusively from Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site. | 16as of [1] ↑ 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. | ULA's triple-common-booster-core heavy-lift launcher, retired 2024-04-09 after its final flight; superseded by Vulcan Centaur, which ULA states offers similar heavy-lift capability at lower cost. |
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.