- Independent of planet’s mass
- Independent of object’s mass
- Decreases with planet’s radius
- Depends on planet’s shape
The Moon’s escape velocity (~2.38 km/s) is lower than Earth’s (~11.2 km/s) due to its smaller mass (1.2% of Earth’s) and radius (27% of Earth’s). This allows lunar missions to use less fuel for liftoff. This means that the escape velocity is the same for any object, regardless of its mass, as long as it is escaping from the same celestial body. The escape velocity depends only on the mass and radius of the planet it is escaping from.
