Scientists at the European Space Agency in Paris needed an infrared camera system to track launchings of the ARIANE 5 rocket. They found a solution with JADE LR and LW cameras from CEDIP Infrared Systems in Croissy-Beaubourg, France.
Operating from its site at Kourou, French Guyana, the European Space Agency used a JADE LR infrared camera system equipped with long-range optics, operating in the 3-to-5-micron waveband to monitor flight V165.
Installed on a turret a few kilometers away from the launch pad, the infrared camera helped track the launcher from lift-off to booster rocket separation. 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 V164 the European Space Agency deployed two CEDIP infrared cameras focused on the cryogenic arms, three hundred meters away from the launch site. The infrared cameras, JADE LR and JADE LW, operating in the 3-to-5- and 8-to-12-micron wavelengths respectively, accomplished their mission in extreme thermal and vibratory conditions in spite of the close proximity of the launcher, company officials say. For more information, see www.cedip-infrared.com.
