Head to head

Atlas IIA vs PSLV

Two vehicles in the same payload class. Every figure below comes from the same two sources for both rockets, and a row appears only when both publish the input.

Payload to low Earth orbit

Relative

Atlas IIA: 6,580 kg

PSLV: 3,800 kg

Side by side

9 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	Atlas IIA	PSLV
Flights flown	23	30
Success rate	100%	93.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	6,580	3,800
Payload to GTO (kg)	2,810	1,200
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,479	4,847
Length (m)	47.54	44
Diameter (m)	3.04	2.8
Launch mass (t)	204	230
Stages	3	4

Atlas IIA

Flight record

100% success rate23 of 23 flown

1992peak 1996 · 4 flights2002

Maiden flight 1992-06-10. Retired.

PSLV

Flight record

93.3% success rate28 of 30 flown · 2 failed

1993peak 2007 · 2 flights2024

Maiden flight 2007-04-23. Still flying.

Atlas IIA is built by Lockheed Martin of the United States (company profile on Space Index).PSLV is built by Indian Space Research Organization of India (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Atlas IIA · PSLV.

Specifications from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs, launch records from Space Index. Derived figures are computed here; see sources and method.