Falcon 9

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The two-stage, kerosene-and-liquid-oxygen rocket that carries the great majority of the world's launched mass. Nine Merlin engines power a recoverable first stage; a single vacuum-optimised Merlin powers an expendable second stage. Its first flight was in 2010 and the vehicle has been substantially revised since, the Block 5 configuration from 2018 being designed explicitly for rapid reuse. Two operational features rather than raw performance explain its position. The first is booster recovery, which let launch rate rise far above what a production line could support. The second is the rideshare programme, which sells slots on dedicated missions to sun-synchronous orbit at a published per-kilogram price — a standing, catalogue-priced route to orbit for a small satellite, which had never previously existed and which underwrites much of the smallsat Earth-observation and technology-demonstration sector. A large share of Falcon 9 flights carry the operator's own broadband satellites rather than external customers, so its flight rate is not a straightforward measure of market demand. Not a place.

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