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ELA4 hydrogen burn pond: the igniters checked with a thermal camera, test after test
From June 2023 to April 2026 we checked the igniters of the ELA4 hydrogen burn pond with a thermal camera: first for CNES during the Ariane 6 tests, then for Eiffage Énergie Systèmes at every launch preparation.
Background
During launch preparations, the vented hydrogen is led to a pond where it is burnt, and igniters provide the ignition. They must be checked to be working, in an area where nobody can stand at the time of the check. We were already making this check on the Ariane 5 pad, from flight VA246 in December 2018.
What we did
In 2023, for CNES, seven visits between 23 June and 14 December, during the Ariane 6 tests on its launch complex; in June 2024, two more visits before the first launch. Since February 2025, for Eiffage Énergie Systèmes, a recurring campaign at every launch preparation phase: seven visits up to April 2026. The drone, fitted with a radiometric thermal camera, observes the pond from a distance: each image is recorded with its temperatures, and the thermal signature of each igniter confirms, or not, that it is working.
3 related missions in the log
Hydrogen burn pond igniters checked at every launch preparation
Seven thermal camera visits between February 2025 and April 2026, at each phase of Ariane 6 launch preparations on the ELA4.
Hydrogen burn pond igniters checked before the first Ariane 6 launch
Two thermal camera visits, on 12 and 24 June 2024.
ELA4 hydrogen burn pond igniters checked during the Ariane 6 tests
Seven thermal camera visits between 23 June and 14 December 2023, during the Ariane 6 tests on its launch complex.
- 7 visits
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Launch campaigns: fifteen launches covered in Kourou from 2017 to 2019
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97310 Kourou
French Guiana
Route des Trois-Îlets
97229 Les Trois-Îlets
Martinique
20030-041 Rio de Janeiro – RJ
Brazil