Escape Velocity Calculator

Escape velocity is the minimum speed an object needs at the surface of a body to escape its gravity without further propulsion. For Earth's surface it is about 11.18 km/s; for the Moon, 2.38 km/s; for the Sun's surface, about 617 km/s.

v_escape = sqrt(2 x G x M / r), where G is the gravitational constant (6.674 x 10^-11 N m^2 / kg^2), M is the body's mass, and r is the distance from the body's center.

No. Escape velocity is independent of the escaping object's mass. A grain of sand and a battleship both need exactly the same launch speed to escape Earth's gravity, ignoring air drag.

Circular orbital velocity at radius r is sqrt(G x M / r), which is the escape velocity divided by sqrt(2). It is the speed needed to maintain a circular orbit at that radius. For low Earth orbit it is about 7.9 km/s.

When you shrink a mass below its Schwarzschild radius r_s = 2 G M / c^2, the escape velocity equals or exceeds the speed of light, and a black hole forms. The calculator flags this case rather than returning a super-luminal escape velocity.