Student's dorm-built jet drone may have broken a speed record

The Reaper's top speed

790 km/h

Georgia Tech aerospace student Tomas Salvo says his jet-powered Reaper drone reached 790 km/h while carrying a 1.2-kilogram payload, beating the previous record of about 748 km/h.

Salvo built the drone in his dorm room from a custom carbon-fibre shell and a jet engine with a 3D-printed titanium nozzle. Guinness World Records has not officially recorded the run.

What's next

Salvo is aiming for the US$800,000 Boom Prize for the first amateur-built radio-controlled plane to break the sound barrier, about 1,234.8 km/h. His next test flight is targeted for late November or early December.