Difference between revisions of "Jet engine"

Revision as of 11:19, 15 August 2013

A jet engine from KSP 0.18

A jet engine is an air-breathing engine which uses onboard fuel and combusts it with the oxygen drawn from the atmosphere. Due to the lower air pressure at higher altitudes its thrust output varies accordingly.

Usage

Unlike rocket engines, a jet draws oxygen from the atmosphere rather than taking it from an on-board tank. This is represented in-game by a much lower rate of fuel consumption. Depending on the aircraft, jet engines can produce thrust at altitudes greater than 20km. Jet engines do not perform in the same manner as rocket engines. Since Jet engines rely on a turbine to compress fuel and atmosphere together in order to produce thrust, it takes time to change speed. Also if the throttle or air flow are too low the engine will stall. By contrast, rocket engines give instant response to control input.

As of version 0.18 jet engines require air to run, provided by air intakes.

Advantages

• Provides excellent fuel efficiency within an atmosphere
• All current jet engines provide thrust vectoring for greater maneuverability
• Excellent power to weight ratio

Disadvantages

• Cannot be used outside of an atmosphere that contains oxygen. In current version, it means they only function on Kerbin and Laythe.
• Thrust output changes depending on altitude
• Engine requires time to spool up to maximum thrust potential

Available jet engines

Image	Part	Radial size	Cost ()	Mass (t)	Max. Temp. (K)	Tolerance (m/s)	Tolerance (g)	Thrust (kN)	TWR	Fuel (/s)	Intake (/s)	Isp (s)	TVC (°)	Reverse
	J-20 "Juno" Basic Jet Engine	Tiny	450	0.25	2 000	7	50	20.0 Mach 0 20.6 Mach 1.3	8.16 Mach 0 8.40 Mach 1.3	0.064	1.402	6 400	—	No
	J-33 "Wheesley" Turbofan Engine	Small	1 400	1.5	2 000	7	50	120.0 Mach 0	8.16 Mach 0	0.233	29.601	10 500	—	Yes
	J-404 "Panther" Afterburning Turbofan	Small	2 000	1.2	2 000	7	50	85.00 Mach 0 107.89 Mach 1.75 / 130.00 Mach 0 219.48 Mach 2.5	7.22 Mach 0 9.17 Mach 1.75 / 11.05 Mach 0 18.65 Mach 2.5	0.193 / 0.663	7.705 / 7.954	9 000 / 4 000	10.0	No
	J-X4 "Whiplash" Turbo Ramjet Engine	Small	2 250	1.8	2 000	7	50	130.00 Mach 0 386.66 Mach 3.0	7.36 Mach 0 21.90 Mach 3.0	0.663	5.303	4 000	1.0	No
	J-90 "Goliath" Turbofan Engine	Radial mounted	2 600	4.5	2 000	7	50	360.0 Mach 0	8.16 Mach 0	0.583	132.273	12 600	—	Yes
	CR-7 R.A.P.I.E.R. Engine[Note 1]	Small	6 000	2.0	2 000	20	50	105.00 Mach 0 465.64 Mach 3.75	5.35 Mach 0 23.74 Mach 3.75	0.669	4.015	3 200	3.0	No

See also

• Jet engine on Wikipedia