Power for Vertical Lift

The Power for Vertical Lift calculator computes power (watts) required to lift an object directly up at the surface of a planetary object.

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose units and enter the following:

• (m) Mass of Object Lifted
• (h) Height Lifted from Surface
• (t)  Time to Lift to Height
• (P) Planetoid Object (Earth, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto)

Power to Lift (P): The calculator returns the power in watts.  However, this can be automatically converted to compatible units via the pull-down menu.

The Math / Science

The Power as a function of mass(m), distance (d), and time(t) equation computes the watts required to lift an object directly up under a planet's gravity.

               `P = (m * g * h) / t`

where:

• P = Power to Lift
• m = mass of object lifted
• g = acceleration due to gravity
• h = height to be achieved in the lift
• t = time required to achieve the lift

The planet list is used to retrieve the acceleration due to gravity (g) on the surface of that planetoid object.  This list includes:

• Earth: g = 9.8 m/s²
• Moon: g = 1.6 m/s²
• Mercury: g = 3.61 m/s²
• Venus: g = 8.83 m/s²
• Mars: g = 3.75 m/s²
• Jupiter: g = 26.0 m/s²
• Saturn: g= 11.2 m/s²
• Neptune: g = 13.3 m/s²
• Pluto: g = 0.61 m/s²