: I did a quick calc, and for a ship that size, assuming escape velocity of
: 13km/s and a rocket exhaust of 4.5km/s, that means you'd need 135658.87kg
: per ton for 8000 tons, so thats 1085264000 kg of fuel, or basically the
: equivalent of 155037 elephants just the get the thing into orbit, assuming
: every last bit of fuel is burned. It'd be more if you want to fly the
: thing once in orbit!

: Yikes.

But you don't need escape velocity. If you go slower and have a power supply, then what?

Escape velocity is the amount of thrust needed to break free of a gravitational field (like a planet) unpowered. Rockets work to use up their fuel to reach or exceed the calculated escape velocity and then coast on that momentum to break free of gravity's pull.

Essentially, escape velocity is how much power must I impart to a baseball to throw it into orbit since it has no power of it own.

If you can have a constant power supply you can lazily reach orbit in your own good time.