IMPROVED IGNITION METHOD FOR LIQUID PROPELLANT ENGINE

A method of starting combustion of a space vehicle engine, the method comprising igniting a propellant tank heater (25); once the heater (25) has reached stable conditions, pressurizing a first tank (23) containing the first propellant and a second tank (24) containing a second propellant, and in parallel filling respectively a first igniter tank (13) with the first propellant in gaseous form and a second igniter tank (14) with the second propellant in gaseous form until ignition thresholds values of temperature (T13, T14) and of pressure (P13, P14) have been reached; and injecting the first and second propellants in gaseous form contained in the first and second igniter tanks (13 and 14) into an igniter (12) of the engine, so as to initiate combustion.