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Really confused about orbital science

Physics Asked on March 27, 2021

Okay let’s start straight away, What is Escape Velocity?

  1. Is it the speed required to get into orbit, or

  2. is it the speed required to escape the SOI (Sphere of Influence) of Earth completely?

If it’s the (1) then probably Google is wrong and probably everything else like the ISS is also wrong because according to them, we need to have just 6.11 Km/S of speed to get into orbit.

If it’s (2) then… I don’t know. Is it?

One Answer

Escape velocity is the speed required to escape to infinity ballistically from the surface of a planet (or from a point in space) neglecting atmospheric drag.

From the surface of the earth, escape velocity is about $11.2$ km/s.

The speed required to maintain a circular orbit about a planet is smaller than escape velocity. The ISS, for example, has an orbital speed of $7.66$ km/s.

A satellite in a circular orbit would have to increase its speed by a factor of $sqrt 2 approx 1.4$ (or, in other words, double its kinetic energy) to reach escape velocity.

Correct answer by gandalf61 on March 27, 2021

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