Vinci igniter for Ariane 6

Igniter for Vinci engine for the Ariane 6 rocket.

In the village of Klundert at the end of the river Maas, around 40 people work at Aerospace Propulsion Products, APP, now part of ArianeGroup. These people specialise in rocket engine ignitions. It’s a niche market, as they have one job to do: provide the flame to get a rocket reaction going. A hugely important component though: if they don’t ignite the whole launch countdown would be rather uneventful, ending on a whimper instead of a roar.

The igniters on the upper stage Vinci engine are not of the explosive kind, instead APP designed an ignition system that uses glow plugs similar to start a diesel engine. These plugs ignite a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen gas to create a very powerful flame. This is because the Vinci engine is restartable and the APP system needs to be able to start Vinci up to four times on each flight.