KSP2 jet engine air speed record?

[Hazmat]

I'm curious if people have been keeping track of this yet, I've seen the land speed record videos but none for air speed using air-breathing jet engines yet.

I managed to hit 1641 m/s (Mach 4.87) with my latest design, screenshot below for proof.

https://i.imgur.com/WkmhTRh.jpg (I don't know what AeroGUI is but it pops up when I press F12 to take a screenshot.)

It was incredibly hard to keep the plane stable at this speed, but I tried to keep it as flat on the horizon line as possible. I might have hit 1643 or 44 when I was angled down slightly.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Hazmat
typo

[magnemoe]

That is fast, and at low attitude, I assume you could go even faster if higher? 

[Dakitess]

If it's like KSP1, nope, you'll go faster when lower because of... Well, that's quite weird actually ^^

In KSP1 I got 1760-69 m/s stable while going perfectly flat at about 18km, I'd say, and using Rapiers in OpenCycle, obviously. It was an optimized yet basic aircraft design for that purpose, but not using any weird cheat or borderline tricks. IIRC I was not using the tilted wings to help reducing the cross-section, might be able to beat the 1770 m/s. You can overcome easily theses values if flying really low and if you don't care that you craft explode due to thermal, but I don't find it interesting compared to being able to recover everything intact.

KSP2 should behave almost identical I guess, It would be nice to try out indeed.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Dakitess

[Hazmat]

6 hours ago, magnemoe said:

That is fast, and at low attitude, I assume you could go even faster if higher? 

Surprisingly you can go faster at low altitude. I tried it at high altitude and had trouble going that far beyond 1500 m/s. Last night I pushed even faster (and lower) and hit 1662 in a much more stable craft this time. I was able to sit at 1660-1662 for 30 seconds or so around 100 meters altitude.

 

37 minutes ago, Dakitess said:

In KSP1 I got 1760-69 m/s stable while going perfectly flat at about 18km, I'd say, and using Rapiers in OpenCycle, obviously.

I'm specifically only using "jet engines" from the build menu, which means no methalox engines like rapiers for this test. It's easy to surpass Mach 8 with methalox engines.

[Dakitess]

This is why I specified OpenCycle, only using the combustible and not the ClosedCycle which makes it basically a rocket engine, though capable to accelerate indefinitely as long it has fuel and ox, of course.

Indeed, now it used Methane as "liquid fuel" but it should not be very far from the original kerosene KSP1 OpenCycle Rapier. 

Conventionnal air-breathing engine as a lower thrust curve when it comes to high velocity, but yeah, as you tried, whatever the OpenCycle engine, they'll run faster at lower altitude, maybe thanks to denser atmosphere and thus more oxydant.

[magnemoe]

That is weird, drag should be much lower if you fly higher and intake air should also be no problem as long as you don't go to high but 10-15 km should work fine. 

[Hazmat]

28 minutes ago, Dakitess said:

This is why I specified OpenCycle, only using the combustible and not the ClosedCycle which makes it basically a rocket engine, though capable to accelerate indefinitely as long it has fuel and ox, of course.

Indeed, now it used Methane as "liquid fuel" but it should not be very far from the original kerosene KSP1 OpenCycle Rapier. 

Conventionnal air-breathing engine as a lower thrust curve when it comes to high velocity, but yeah, as you tried, whatever the OpenCycle engine, they'll run faster at lower altitude, maybe thanks to denser atmosphere and thus more oxydant.

For this test I'm only interested in using "jet engines" from the build menu, but for comparison sake I fitted a Rapier to my build and hit 1903 m/s (Mach 5.6) in level flight around 100 meters.

I don't really consider this a fair comparison to jet engines even in open cycle.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Hazmat
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[Hazmat]

3 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

That is weird, drag should be much lower if you fly higher and intake air should also be no problem as long as you don't go to high but 10-15 km should work fine. 

My air intakes tend to cut out around that altitude, I can only get a constant flow of air below 7 km.

[Holand025]

The airspeed record in KSP2 will depend on the specific design and performance of the jet engine, as well as other factors such as the altitude and atmospheric conditions of the test flight.

[B15hop]

Nice job man! I just wish I could see the actual aircraft. It’s so dark. Regardless, nice!

[Hazmat]

46 minutes ago, B15hop said:

Nice job man! I just wish I could see the actual aircraft. It’s so dark. Regardless, nice!

I'm purposely hiding my design for now until I can get the absolute most out of it. I'm using some design tricks that I haven't seen other players do in KSP yet. (no exploits though)

Edited March 16, 2023 by Hazmat
context

[B15hop]

14 minutes ago, Hazmat said:

I'm purposely hiding my design for now until I can get the absolute most out of it. I'm using some design tricks that I haven't seen other players do in KSP yet.

Lol you sneaky bastage.. 

[Icky]

as far as im concerned, a rapier on a craft with no oxidizer IS just a jet engine. id be curious to see a poll on how many people think a rapier in air mode is somehow in a different category than other jet engines

[Hazmat]

3 hours ago, Icky said:

as far as im concerned, a rapier on a craft with no oxidizer IS just a jet engine. id be curious to see a poll on how many people think a rapier in air mode is somehow in a different category than other jet engines

It's not under the jet engine section in build mode. You can fit any engine to a jet but it's not specifically a jet engine, even in air mode.