You can calculate escape velocities by using the conservation of energy. In other words, we need to realize that the kinetic energy needed to escape has to be equal to the gravitational potential energy.

Given that
                      GMm
Gravitational P.E. = -----
                       r

                  mv2
Kinetic Energy = -----
                   2

then
        ------
       / 2GM
v =   / -----
    \/    r

Where G is the universal gravitational constant (6.67 * 10-11 m3 / kg * s2), M is the mass of the body and r is that body's radius. The escape velocity for different planets in the solar system are approximately:

Mercury: 4.25 km/s
Venus: 10.36 km/s
Earth: 11.18 km/s
Mars: 5.02 km/s
Jupiter: 59.64 km/s
Saturn: 35.41 km/s
Uranus: 21.41 km/s
Neptune: 23.52 km/s
Pluto: 1.00 km/s

Escape Velocity is a shareware game put out by Ambrosia Software for MacOS. In the game, you play a starship pilot out to make his/her fortune. Starting out with a small shuttle craft, you must work your way up to bigger and better ship by running missions, trading cargo, or through piracy. Along the way, you will be able to get bigger, faster and more powerful ships and weapons. You must keep track of your reputation, both as a fighter, and with other governments. A positive reputation with governments will allow you to run missions with them, opening to door for profit and danger. A negative reputation means that ships of that government may attack you, and you will be forbidden to land on their planets. EV is a dynamic game, the world changing around you as you progress through the game.

The world of EV takes place many years after the Great War, where a powerful alien race was destroyed in self defense by the humans. The massive government had grown corrupt, and a rebellion took hold. The universe was embattled between the Confederation and the Rebellion, with many un-aligned worlds in the middle. All this time, pirates establish home worlds, and attack freighters transporting goods between worlds.

You see the game from a top, 3rd person view, controlling your ships acceleration, direction and weapons with the keyboard, the mouse is only used when landed or while viewing the galactic map. when landed, and if the planet has the right facilities, you can go to the bar, where you can hire escorts and gamble. The bar is also a place where people seeking to hire you can find you. You can also use that mission computer to search for shipping jobs that are available. There is a Commodity Exchange where you can go to buy and sell basic commoditys like food or medical devices. New ships are available at the Shipyard, and upgrades to your ship can be bought and sold at the Outfitter. EV has tons of interwoven plots, dependent on each other, and each has many subplots.

One of the most interesting features about EV is it's plug-in architecture. The format for writing plug-ins is simple, and many editors are available to help with this. Using plug-ins, almost every aspect of the EV world can be changed. In fact, even the standard data files are plug-ins.

The way the plug-ins work is rather clever. First, the data files are loaded, then the plug ins are examined, and any resource in the plug-in has the same ID number as one in the data file, it is replace in memory.

EV has a companion game, Escape Velocity Override.

Much thanks to CentrX for his content and grammer help

In easier to understand terms, escape velocity is an initial velocity one has to give to a body for it to be able to travel far enough from another body, in most cases the surface of a planet, to escape its gravitational pull without needing additional thrust. To be accurate, when I say escape I mean to escape a body's gravitational pull enough to go out into space and not fall back, as we all so far know gravity's force extends throughout all of space.

A good example would be an immensely powerful cannon that shoots a cannonball straight up into space at a muzzle velocity of 11.18 km/s from the planet we call earth. 11.18 km/s is the escape velocity of our planet.

Reaching escape velocity is not necessary to escape the gravitational pull of a planet. For example: if one can maintain a 1 mile per hour velocity constantly, one will eventually reach a distance where the gravitational pull of the earth will no longer pull it down to earth.

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