APRIL 14--CEDIP Infrared Systems (Croissy-Beaubourg, France;www.cedip-infrared.com), developer of thermal infrared (IR) technology, has supplied the European Space Agency with several advanced IR camera systems enabling it to monitor and track the recent launchings of ARIANE 5. Operating from its site at Kourou, French Guyana, the agency used a JADE LR IR camera system equipped with long-range optics, operating in the 3--5-µm waveband, to monitor flight V165.
Installed on a turret a few kilometers away from the launch pad, the IR camera allowed precise tracking of the launcher during the lift-off phase and on until the booster rocket separation. Drawing upon its unique imagery mode, combining several temperature ranges, the camera was able to additionally observe thermal phenomena on the launcher structure at the different stages of the rocket engine combustion. Equipped with a laptop computer, the JADE LR was able to record the entire launch phase of the flight in real time at 150 Hz over a 16-bit range.
To monitor the refueling phase of flight, the agency deployed two CEDIP IR cameras focused on the cryogenic arms, 300 m away from the launch site. The IR cameras, JADE LR and JADE LW, operating in the 3--5-µm and 8--12-µm wavebands, respectively, accomplished their mission under extreme thermal and vibratory conditions, despite the close proximity of the launcher. The cameras were run without the need for operator control using a specific timer feature in the CEDIP Altair PC software.
