Launch cadence
How often a vehicle or a provider actually flies, measured over a period rather than promised.
Cadence is the honest measure of a launch business. A rocket that has flown successfully once is a technical achievement; a rocket that flies every fortnight is an industry. Cadence determines whether a constellation can be deployed before its technology is obsolete, whether a manufacturer can amortise a factory, and whether a customer's slot slips by weeks or by years when something goes wrong. It is also the number most often quoted as a target and least often met.
The gap between providers is stark in our tracker: SpaceX accounts for 148 of 350 missions, while Rocket Lab - the next busiest Western commercial provider - has 30, and several newer entrants appear with a single flight. Of all tracked missions, 185 have a confirmed successful outcome; the rest are upcoming or still unconfirmed.
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Manifest size. A long manifest is a list of signed customers, not flights performed - the two diverge exactly when a vehicle is struggling.