Escape Velocity Calculator

The following escape velocity calculator can determine the theoretical escape velocity given two user inputs. The formula for escape velocity is:

Generally, we calculate the escape velocity from the surface of a planet or moon. In this case, is just the radius of that body. However, if an object is already at a certain elevation, r would be the radius of the body plus that additional elevation. is the universal gravitaion constant (the calculator below uses 5 decimal points of precision for this constant). Finally, is the mass of the celestial body. Note that the escape velocity is independent of the mass of the rocket/satellite. Do not input this mass into the calculator below.

Press “run” and follow the on-screen prompts to make a calculation. M and r are best entered in scientific notation. So, if the mass of the object is kilograms, you should enter: 7.89E30

Check out some of our other Physics Calculators here!

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