How fast do you have to go to leave?
Escape velocity is what it takes to leave for good, unpowered. It is set by mass and radius, and nothing else.
Almost exactly Earth
11,200 m/s is faster than 5 of the 10 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deimos | 5.6 m/s | 2,000× | A hard jump would do it |
| Ceres | 510 m/s | 22× | |
| the Moon | 2,380 m/s | 4.71× | |
| Mars | 5,030 m/s | 2.23× | |
| Earth | 11,186 m/s | 1× | |
| Neptune | 23,500 m/s | 0.477× | |
| Saturn | 35,500 m/s | 0.315× | |
| Jupiter | 59,500 m/s | 0.188× | |
| the Sun | 617,500 m/s | 1/55.1 | |
| a black hole event horizon | 299,792,458 m/s | 1/26,767 | By definition, the speed of light |
Worth knowing
- Escape velocity from Deimos, one of Mars’s moons, is 5.6 m/s — slower than a sprint, and slower than a good standing jump.
- A black hole is defined by escape velocity: at the event horizon it equals the speed of light, so nothing gets out.
Frequently asked
What is Earth’s escape velocity?
11.186 km/s, or 40 270 km/h, from the surface ignoring air. Rockets never actually reach it in one go — they build the velocity gradually while climbing.
Does escape velocity depend on what is escaping?
No. It follows only from the mass and radius of what you are leaving, which is why a feather and a spacecraft need the same speed.