Payload only: the satellites, crew capsules and cargo a rocket carries. The rocket itself, its propellant and its spent upper stage are not counted.
How much payload has reached orbit so far this year, measured in tonnes. Payload means the satellites and cargo rockets carry, not the rockets themselves.
Mass to orbit by launch provider (the company or agency that flew the rocket).
Mass to orbit by launch vehicle type.
“Mass” here means payload mass: the satellites and cargo a rocket carries, not the rocket itself. A Starlink stack, a crew capsule, a science probe: their weight adds up on this page; the rocket's own structure, propellant, and spent upper stages do not.
It's the total payload mass delivered to orbit by successful launches since January 1, measured in tonnes (t). Figures come from Jonathan McDowell's GCAT, which records a payload mass for each launch; failed and suborbital flights are excluded.
Mass to orbit and Launches YTD look related but answer different questions. One weighs each launch by payload mass, the other counts launches equally. A single heavy lift can swing this page's number without moving the launch count at all.
See When two metrics disagree on the methodology page for the full reconciliation.
Sum of payload mass on successful orbital launches since January 1 of the current year.
Payload mass only. GCAT's OrbPay column is defined as “payload in tonnes delivered to orbit (perigee above 80 km)”, and that is the number reported here. It counts everything the rocket was carrying as cargo: satellites, crew capsules, cargo freighters bound for the space station, and deep-space probes, because all of them are payload. It does NOT include the rocket: the upper stage that did the final burn, and any propellant left in it, are excluded. GCAT tracks that separately as OrbMass (total mass in orbit at insertion cutoff, including the insertion stage and remaining propellant), and this metric deliberately does not use it. So “tonnes to orbit” here means tonnes of useful cargo, not tonnes of hardware in space.
Jonathan McDowell’s GCAT (launch.tsv)
Launches with LaunchCode = OS (Orbital Success) and a recorded payload mass
Failed launches, suborbital, missile/sounding rockets, deep-space missions
GCAT is maintained by hand and typically lags 1–2 weeks on the most recent launches. Some launches list partial-payload mass. GCAT also cautions that recent OrbPay values are autogenerated and may not handle special cases correctly, so the most recent months can shift as entries are reviewed by hand.
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