Escape velocity is the speed needed to break free from a celestial body’s gravitational pull. Earth’s is 11,186 km/s, while Mars’ moon Phobos’ is 11 m/s. Jupiter’s is 59.5 km/s. Black holes have an escape velocity equal to light. Conquering Earth’s high escape velocity is necessary for space exploration.
Escape velocity is the speed at which a body must travel before freeing itself from the gravitational pull of a celestial body. It varies widely based on body mass. Earth’s escape velocity is 11,186 km/s (25.022 mph or approximately Mach 37), which can only be achieved by powerful booster rockets. By comparison, the maximum speed of the Space Shuttle is about 7.6 km/sec, sufficient to reach low Earth orbit but not completely escape the Earth’s gravitational pull.
The escape velocity on Mars’ moon Phobos is about 11 m/s, or 25 mph. The mean diameter of the body is 11 km (6.8 mi). Its smaller cousin, Demos, with an average diameter of 6 km (3.7 mi), has an escape velocity of just 6.9 m/s (15 mph), meaning you could probably jump off it if you tried hard enough. The gravitational force decreases with the square of the distance, which means that if at a certain distance from the body the gravity is only half that on the surface, at twice that distance the gravity will be four times less, eight times less, and so on Street .
Jupiter, the king of the planets, has an escape velocity of 59.5 km/s (133,100 mph), about 5 1/2 times ours. Despite Jupiter’s size, its speed is slower than one might think, due to the planet’s low density. Regardless, it would take a few powerful rocket boosters to accelerate a payload away from Jupiter’s gravitational field.
Perhaps the most famous escape velocity is that of a black hole, equal to light. Because of its enormous mass concentrated in a tiny area, nothing can beat a black hole’s escape velocity. The only reason we know they’re there is that they’re predicted by models of stellar evolution, and that the infalling gases heat up, giving off heat and light. It is also known that black holes slowly evaporate through something called Hawking radiation which deals with quantum tunneling effects.
The reason we are so stranded on Earth today is because of its high escape velocity. To spread to the rest of the solar system and eventually the universe, we need to conquer our gravity cheaply and reliably. This has not yet been achieved. Solutions may involve magnetic assist launches, massive electromagnetic railguns, or even a space beanstalk.
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