Top US Launch Companies of 2022 - Ars Technica's Power Ranking

Enlarge / A Falcon 9 rocket launches the OneWeb-1 mission into orbit on December 8, 2022. Trevor Mahlman

Ten years ago, only a handful of launch companies existed in the United States; United Launch Alliance was the big dog, with SpaceX starting to nip at its heels. Since then, however, a multiplicity of new launch startups have come to the United States, many of which have developed their own rocket engines. As a result, we are now in the golden age of rocketry, with many different startups and approaches to sending payloads into space.

In my weekly Rocket Report newsletter, I pay attention to launch companies and public companies around the world. But it can be difficult to measure Europe-based Arianespace against SpaceX against China's vast state-owned launch providers. Therefore, for this list, we are going to focus only on commercial launch companies in the United States.

Please note that this is a subjective list, although specific metrics such as total number of launches, tonnage in orbit, success rate, etc. were all important factors in the decision. Additionally, the focus is on what each company accomplished in 2022, not what it might do in the future.

#1: SpaceX

Was there any doubt? This year, the California-based launch company will launch 60 rockets, with (at the time of this writing) 100% mission success. More than 90% of these launches were on previously used first stages and the majority with reused payload fairings. In mid-December, SpaceX also pushed the number of times a single first stage has flown to 15. The company does not seem to have found the upper limit for the first stage of reuse yet.

Through its aggressive efforts to develop, test and prove the reusability of Falcon 9 first stages, SpaceX was able to significantly increase its launch capacity this year at a critical time. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Western access to the Russian Soyuz rocket ended. SpaceX was able to increase its launch cadence accordingly, assisting OneWeb, the European Space Agency and others with launch requirements resulting from the war.

If there's been a downside for SpaceX in 2022, it's been ongoing delays with the Starship and Super Heavy rocket, which didn't launch this year. Part of that can be attributed to SpaceX taking a more cautious approach to testing. With a large amount of valuable infrastructure built at its Starbase launch site in South Texas, SpaceX doesn't want to take unnecessary risks.

No. 2: United Launch Alliance

The Colorado-based rocket builder had a strong 2022, with seven Atlas V launches and one Delta IV Heavy mission. While that cadence pales in comparison to SpaceX — to match SpaceX's total of 60 launches in 2022, ULA would have to count every one of its launches since the spring of 2015 — the company has continued its record of 100% mission success. In this sense, it remains a foolproof alternative to SpaceX for the Ministry of Defense, which has favored redundancy in access to space.

It was a disappointment (but for Ars readers, no surprise) that ULA's new Vulcan rocket didn't launch in 2022. However, the company did eventually take delivery of a pair of Blue Origin's BE-4 flight engines this fall, and ULA is on track to attempt a first launch of the large rocket in the first half of 2023. More importantly, the future viability of this rocket seems assured after the order Amazon monster of 38 Kuiper launches on the Vulcan rocket. This should allow ULA to negotiate discounts for large purchases of materials and supplies, and the amortization of fixed costs over multiple launches makes Vulcan's price more competitive.

In 2022, ULA cemented its future for years to come.