Throw Weight of Individual Space Program Providers from 35 to Plus 100,000 Kilograms

March 16, 2018 – The Falcon Heavy, SpaceX mega-booster rocket is currently the heavyweight king in payload capacity, a measure of the ability to deliver satellites and human-manned command modules into Near and Deep Space. The Near Space is defined as low-Earth orbit (LEO). An intermediate space where many weather and telecommunication satellites are placed is described as Near Space where orbits can be matched to Earth’s rotation. We call the satellites placed in this area of space as operating geosynchronously. That is, their orbital velocity keeps them stationary over the same area of the planet. Getting payloads to geosynchronous orbits requires rockets to have geostationary transfer orbit capacity (GTO). Then there is trans-lunar insertion (TLI), the first of two Deep Space measures assigned to a rocket’s payload capacity. Further Deep Space capacity such as a flight to Mars is defined as Mars Orbital Insertion (MOI). These are the parameters by which we measure past, current and future launch providers. Surprisingly, although the future Space Launch System is touted by NASA as having greater payload capacity than the Saturn V, its predecessor, current specification data does not support that.

The list that follows includes past, current, and future launch systems in order of descending payload capacity. I may not have found all of them but this does give you a good idea of the past and current capacity of our planet to put things into orbit or Deep Space. Of the twenty-seven listed here, four are retired, and three are reusable. Also not included here are Stratolaunch Systems and Virgin Galactic, two companies that are in the process of completing air-launch systems capable of putting payloads into LEO.

• BFR (SpaceX, United States) – in development – reusable – testing of systems to begin in 2019 based on Elon Musk’s latest predictions – 150,000 kilograms (330,000 pounds) to LEO, no data for GTO, 50,000 kilograms (110,000 pounds) for Deep Space missions including MOI and return to Earth. This is a rocket designed to hake humans to Mars and back.
• Saturn V (NASA, United States) retired – expendable – 140,000 kilograms (310,000 pounds) to LEO, no data for GTO because the rocket was never used for this purpose and 48,600 kilograms (107,100 pounds) to trans-lunar insertion (TLI) for Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972.
• Space Launch System (SLS) (Boeing, United Launch Alliance, Orbital ATK, Aerojet Rocketdyne for NASA, United States) – in development – largely expendable with the exception of booster rockets – first launches in different configurations between 2019 and 2022 – 130,000 kilograms (286,000 pounds) to LEO in the Block 2 configuration, no data for GTO, and 45,000 kilograms (99,000 pounds) to TLI.
• Energia (USSR) – retired – flew only twice from 1987 to 1988 – 100,000 kilograms (220,000 pounds) to LEO, 20,000 kilograms (44,000 pounds) to GSO
• Falcon Heavy (SpaceX, United States) – active – reusable – 63,800 kilograms (140,700 pounds) to LEO, and 26,700 kilograms (58,900 pounds) to GTO
• New Glenn (Blue Origin, United States) – in development – reusable – initial test launch scheduled for 2020 – 45,000 kilograms (99,000 pounds) to LEO, and 13,000 kilograms (29,000 pounds) to GTO.
• Delta IV Heavy (United Launch Alliance, United States) – active – expendable – up to 28,790 kilograms (63,470 pounds) to LEO, up to 14,220 kilograms (31,350 pounds) to GTO, 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) to lunar transfer orbit (LTO), and 8,000 kilograms (17,600 pounds) to Mars Orbital Insertion (MOI).
• Space Shuttle (United Launch Alliance, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Rockwell, United States) – retired – the orbiter and solid fuel rockets reusable – 27,500 kilograms (60,600 pounds) to LEO, 16,050 kilograms (35,380 pounds) to the International Space Station, 3,810 kilograms (,8,400 pounds) to GTO.
• Long March 5 (CALT, China) -active – expendable – 25,000 kilograms (55,000 pounds) to LEO, 13,000 kilograms (29,000 pounds) to GTO, and 8,200 kilograms (18,100 pounds) to TLI.
• Proton-M (Khrunichev, Russia) – active – expendable – 23,000 kilograms (51,000 pounds) to LEO, 3,250 to 6,920 kilograms (7,170 to 13,900 pounds) to GTO.
• Falcon 9 (SpaceX, United States) – active – reusable – 22,800 kilograms (50,300 pounds) to LEO, 8,300 kilograms (18,300 pounds) to GTO.
• Ariane 6 (Airbus, European Space Agency) – in development – some components may be reusable – first flight test scheduled for 2020, 20,000 kilograms (44,000 pounds) to LEO, 11,000 kilograms (24,000 pounds) to GTO.
• Atlas V (United Launch Alliance, United States) – active – expendable – up to 20,520 kilograms (45,240 pounds) to LEO, up to 8,900 kilograms (19,260 pounds) to GTO.
• H-IIB (Mitsubishi, JAXA, Japan) – active – expendable – 16,500 kilograms (36,400 pounds) to LEO, 8,000 kilograms (18,000 pounds) to GTO.
• Ariane 5 (Airbus, European Space Agency) – active – expendable – 16,000 kilograms (35,000 pounds) to LEO, up to 11,115 kilograms (24,504 pounds) to GTO.
• GSLV III (ISRO, India) – active – expendable – 8,000 kilograms to LEO, 4,000 kilograms to GTO, the agency has announced plans to quadruple capacity in the near future.
• Soyuz (USSR, Russia) – active – expendable – the principal launch vehicle for human spaceflight to the International Space Station with 7,020 kilograms (15,480 pounds) to LEO, 2,810 Kilograms (6,190 pounds) to GTO.
• Antares (Orbital ATK, United States) – active – expendable – 6,500 kilograms (14,300 pounds) to LEO, no data for GTO.
• Delta II (United Launch Alliance, United States) – active – expendable – up to 6,100 kilograms (13,400 pounds) to LEO, up to 2,170 kilograms (4,780 pounds) to GTO.
• PSLV (ISRO, India) – active – expendable – 3,800 kilograms (8,400 pounds) to LEO, 1,200 kilograms (2,600 pounds) to GTO.
• Shavit (Israel Aerospace, Israel) – active – expendable – up to 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds) to LEO.
• Phoenix (Iran) – active – expendable – 250 kilogram (550 pounds) to LEO.
• Electron (Rocket Lab, New Zealand, United States) – active – expendable – up to 225 kilogram (495 pounds) to heliocentric orbit with third-stage plans to allow for LEO (no data on payload size for the latter type of mission).
• Unha (North Korea) – active – expendable – up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) to LEO.
• Naro 1 (South Korea) – retired- expendable – up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) to LEO.
• Safir (Iran) – active – expendable – up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds) to LEO.
• Ausroc IV and Ausroc Nano (ASERA, Australia) – active – expendable – up to 35 kilograms (77 pounds) to LEO.