Escape Velocity is a BBC Books original novel written by Colin Brake and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor and Fitz and introduces the new companion of Anji Kapoor. This book completes the story arc in which the Doctor was trapped on Earth for a hundred years.
Plot
In 2001, there is a new space race, between Pierre Yves-Dudoin and Arthur Tyler III, both competing to be the first privately funded man in space. Eventually Pierre announces that he has succeeded, and will be in space in a week. However, Pierre has been helped by a scout of the Kulan race, who are poised to invade Earth.
In Brussels a man is shot in front of stockbroker Anji Kapoor and her boyfriend Dave. When Dave attempts first aid, he realises the man is not human. The man then slips a package into Dave's pocket and injects a substance into his wrist. Meanwhile, in London, Fitz is dropped off by Compassion two days before he is to meet the Doctor. When he sees Dave in a news report claiming the dead man had two hearts, he fears the worst and travels to Brussels.
In physics, escape velocity is the minimum speed needed for an object to "break free" from the gravitational attraction of a massive body. The escape velocity from Earth is about 40,270 km/h (25,020 mph). More particularly, escape velocity is the speed at which the sum of an object's kinetic energy and its gravitational potential energy is equal to zero. If given escape velocity, the object will move away forever from the massive body, slowing forever and approaching but never quite reaching zero speed. Once escape velocity is achieved, no further impulse need be applied for it to continue in its escape. In other words, if given escape velocity, the object will move away from the other body, continually slowing and will asymptotically approach zero speed as the object's distance approaches infinity, never to return. If given a speed greater than escape velocity, the object will asymptotically approach a speed equal to the excess speed it was given over and above escape velocity.
Escape velocity is the minimum speed an object without propulsion needs to have to move away indefinitely from the source of the gravity field.
Escape velocity may also refer to:
Books
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Television
Sports
Escape Velocity is a 1998 Canadian thriller film, directed by Lloyd A. Simandl.