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escape velocity
Sign in to saveAlso known as escape speed, second cosmic velocity, second escape velocity
minimum speed needed for an object to escape the gravitational influence of a primary body
Escape velocity is the minimum speed an object needs to travel to break free from a planet or star's gravitational pull and never fall back to it. It matters because it determines whether rockets can reach space, whether atmospheres can be retained by planets, and how we understand the motion of objects throughout the universe.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- cosmic velocity
- Part of
- spacecraft
- Followed by
- third cosmic velocity
- Follows
- first cosmic velocity
- Image
- KSC-95EC-0911.jpg
- Speed
- 11.186
Show 4 more facts
- Stack Exchange tag
- physics.stackexchange.com/tags/escape-velocity
- on focus list of Wikimedia project
- Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
- studied by
- orbital mechanics
- maintained by WikiProject
- WikiProject Mathematics
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~19 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Space launch
Spaceport
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “escape velocity” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
Gallery (3)
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