GCAT Release 1.8.6 (2026 Aug 25) | Data Update 2026 Aug 25
Launch Vehicle List
The LV (launch vehicle) list has the following fields:
- Name of launch vehicle
- Launch vehicle family
- base stage.
- Manufacturer.
See the Orgs file.
- Launch vehicle variant.
Sometimes two different launch vehicles
have the same name. For instance, the Vanguard rocket had variants
with different third stages; the Little Joe 1 had various combinations
of rocket motors; some variants of the H-1 had different strapons or
different numbers of stages. These variants are indicated by
an extra string in this field.
- Alias.
An entry in this field indicates that the vehicle mentioned
as an alias is an alternate name for this vehicle. For instance, the Taurus 1110
has the alias `ARPA Taurus', indicating that the separate entry for ARPA
Taurus actually refers to the same vehicle as the Taurus 1110; the vehicle
was simply renamed. I have chosen in my launch listings to use the
vehicle name in use by the launch agency at the time of launch.
The Saturn IB, for example, was known for a while as the Uprated Saturn I,
and has identical entries under each name.
- Stage numbers.
Two numbers giving the minimum and maximum stage number.
The minimum is usually 1, but sometimes 0 to allow for strapon booster stages,
and occasionally -1 to allow for two kinds of strapon stage (e.g. Atlas IIAS).
For the R-7 (Soyuz) family, the manufacturer considers the boosters as stage 1
and the core stage as stage 2, and GCAT used to reflect this, but I have decided to
prioritize consistency of definition over consistency with standard usage, and so
as of Aug 2026 the boosters are denoted stage 0 and the core stage is stage 1.
For air launch platforms (balloons and carrier aircraft) the stage number has
now been changed from 0 to A, to allow these to be distinguished easily from boosters.
Note that the stage numbers in the SatType field of the object catalogs (R2, R3 etc.)
are not necessarily consistent with the stage numbering here, and in particular
the Soyuz retains R1 for the strapons and R2 for the core stage, at least for now.
- Length
(metres.)
The length is approximate, and may vary when different payloads and fairings are used.
- Diameter
(metres)
- Launch mass,
(tonnes)
- LEO payload capacity
in kg, approximate; only provided for some of the orbital vehicles. Values in these fields are
especially tentative.
- GTO payload capacity
in kg, approximate; only provided for some of the orbital vehicles. Values in these fields are
especially tentative.
- Launch thrust,
kN.
- Vehicle type,
see below.
- Estimated max apogee
(kilometers). In many cases this is a rough
order of magnitude (ROM) estimate. In some cases for IRBM/ICBMs I include an extra
figure representing the range.
The following vehicle types are defined: (number of examples is from the 2003 release and has not been updated)
| Code | Type |
|---|
| D | Deep Space launch |
| M | Missile |
| O | Orbital vehicle |
| R | Research rocket |
| V | Reentry test vehicle |
| X | Exoatmospheric test |
| Y | Exoatmospheric weather rocket |
| A | Endoatmospheric missile |
| C | Cruise missile |
| Q | Endoatmospheric reentry test |
| T | Endoatmospheric test/research |
| W | Endoatmospheric weather rocket |
These types for individual launch vehicle types are slightly more finely
divided than those used for the Family/Stage datafile: apart from the
use of O rather than L, the R category is broken up to include V, X and
Y subtypes and the T/A category is joined by the Q type. Note that
the A,C,Q,T,W types of rocket never enter space (by my 80 km definition).