Brett Bellmore
2008-05-27 07:18:55
“Isn’t the significance of escape velocity entirely a matter of trajectory, that is, of intent?”
Not unless you’re planning on missing the planet. The escape velocity represents the lowest velocity you’d arrive at a planetary surface from a great distance, if you didn’t do any braking. Varying the trajectory can only result in additional increments of velocity, particularly in the case of Mars, which lacks satellites large enough to be useful for gravity well maneuvers.
