How Do New Glenn, Vulcan, and Starship Compare?

Why It Matters

The divergent capabilities and readiness levels of New Glenn, Vulcan, and Starship will dictate launch‑service pricing, cadence, and risk for commercial constellations, government missions, and future lunar exploration.

Key Takeaways

• New Glenn 9×4 lifts payload to 70 t LEO, 8.7 m fairing
• Vulcan’s modular design tops at 27 t LEO with six solid boosters
• Starship aims >100 t reusable payload, still in development
• New Glenn reuses methane first stage; Starship reuses both stages
• Vulcan provides mission‑assured expendable core for national‑security launches

Pulse Analysis

The heavy‑lift launch market is entering a new era of competition as three distinct architectures vie for dominance. 7‑meter fairing for mega‑constellations. United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan, built around two BE‑4 engines and up to six GEM 63XL solid boosters, delivers a configurable payload envelope up to 27 t LEO, emphasizing mission assurance for national‑security customers. \n\nTechnical choices drive both performance and economics.

New Glenn couples a methane booster with a hydrogen upper stage, balancing reusability and high‑energy capability, whereas Vulcan relies on an expendable core and a high‑efficiency RL10C‑powered Centaur V upper stage for precise orbital insertions. Starship’s integrated design eliminates the expendable‑core paradigm, betting on rapid turnaround and stack‑wide recovery to slash launch costs. \n\nFor the market, these distinctions translate into strategic options.

Operators needing reliable, certified access for defense or high‑value payloads may favor Vulcan’s proven expendable architecture. Commercial satellite constellations that value large fairings and a path to reusable economics might select New Glenn’s 7×2 now and consider the 9×4 when it arrives. The most ambitious customers—lunar lander developers, deep‑space explorers, and future Mars missions—are watching Starship’s progress closely, as its promised cost reductions could reshape mission budgeting. As each vehicle matures, pricing, launch cadence, and supply‑chain dynamics will evolve, ultimately segmenting the market into tiers of assurance, capacity, and reusability.