[WIP] R.A.C.E. System - Air Breathing Engines for Other Planets

[Captain Sierra]

A picture's worth a thousand words . . .

R.A.C.E.?

Ram Air Compression Engine. These engines utilize a rocket combustion cycle while also using atmospheric air as compression to produce a large amount of power without the need for atmospheric oxygen.

So jets that work in space? Isn't that the R.A.P.I.E.R.?

Not exactly. They work without oxygen in the air, but they still need air. These engines DO work on ALL atmospheric planets.

Is this cheating?

Only if you think it is. These engines are balanced with a unique power curve to speed, the faster you go, the more power they give. They do burn oxidizer and liquid fuel at a different ratio than normal engines in conjunction with a new resource, RamIntakeAir (so you can't abuse this with stock intakes )

Where are you now?

I have a pre-release pack ready which contains a single engine and intake. Both of these use stock models as placeholders. Custom models are in the works right now. They will take some time as I am a crap texture artist.

Fuel Ratio:

These engines use a custom fuel ratio. The ratio is 2 parts oxidizer to 1 part liquid fuel. Be sure to tweak your tanks accordingly (at least until I get the restock tanks in).

RoadMap:

• Retextured stock fuel tanks with fuel ratios correct to what the engine draws*
  
• custom models*
  
• more variety of engines including at least one that is stack mountable and one with an inverse velocity curve
  
• dual mode engine (think RAPIER) in the style of an aerospike
  

Plugin Powered Enhancements:

• Proper atmospheric density curve
  
• proper relation of the above to the velocity curve
  
• Dynamically animated intakes (possibly using KineTech animation library)
  

*These objects are planned for the next update, though everything is subject to change.

Download

The above download is a pre-alpha, pre-release package. All rights reserved by me, Captain Sierra.

Current model progress:

Jet Engine:

Intake:

Edited February 14, 2014 by Captain Sierra

[Deathsoul097]

Hi Cap'n, a fellow modder reporting for duty, if need be!

(If you need or want my help just ask, I will be happy to do what I can.)

I like this, and I think this is a very unique idea. So, what ratio of fuel does the engine draw?

[Captain Sierra]

Hi Cap'n, a fellow modder reporting for duty, if need be!

(If you need or want my help just ask, I will be happy to do what I can.)

I like this, and I think this is a very unique idea. So, what ratio of fuel does the engine draw?

DEEEEERRRRRRRRPP!!!!!!

I forgot to add that pretty critical info, as you have to tweak the fuel tanks right now. It's a 2:1 Oxidizer:LiquidFuel ratio. I'm ammending that to the main post now.

[Deathsoul097]

DEEEEERRRRRRRRPP!!!!!!

I forgot to add that pretty critical info, as you have to tweak the fuel tanks right now. It's a 2:1 Oxidizer:LiquidFuel ratio. I'm ammending that to the main post now.

Lol.

Cool.

So taking the FL-T400, instead of having 180:220 for LF:O, you would have a 133.33:266.66 ratio?

[Captain Sierra]

Lol.

Cool.

So taking the FL-T400, instead of having 180:220 for LF:O, you would have a 133.33:266.66 ratio?

That's correct. I also plan to tweak the textures slightly to make it distinctive, at least until I model my own. Mine will be getting a stockalike texture, while the model will be more reminiscent of KW Rocketry.

The simple way I've been doing crafts is adding up all the oxidizer I have and then tweaking down the liquid fuel to match.

My actual plan is to take the FL-T400 and reduce it's capacity to 390, slightly increase the impact tolerance and dry mass, and do a 260-130 ratio (for sanity)

[The Error]

Coooool! I forsee many a new Eve SSTO with these!

[Captain Sierra]

Coooool! I forsee many a new Eve SSTO with these!

I'm waiting to see how long it takes for someone to do that.

[federicoaa]

Is it similar in concept to the thermal jets from KSPI?

[Captain Sierra]

Is it similar in concept to the thermal jets from KSPI?

No, not at all. Those jets work like NTRs in the sense that they run propellant (intake air) over a reactor and use the thermal expansion in place of combustion. These engines run a rocket combustion cycle using air driven compression since rocket combustion is so hot it would melt turbine compressors.

These require ram intake air, liquid fuel, and oxidizer and aren't super efficient. These also can't be upgraded to work in space (though a dual mode engine is planned for later). In concept, not in the slightest, in operation, somewhat. These require more resource input.

In some development news, UV unwrapping the engine is kicking my a**. The sketchup dae export isn't perfect so there's a lot of ironing out on the model itself to do. I fear I'll have to remake the engine from scratch in blender to actually get the geometry to make sense.

[camlost]

Why is the fuel ratio 2:1? You already reduced fuel efficiency so much that I don't see the point in wasting more oxidizer. Also if liquidfuel=1 and oxidizer=2 then ramintakeair should be 13, otherwise the fuel rate cal would be wrong.