Housing Problem: Is it possible to live on the asteroid as the Little Prince?

The story of the Little Prince - one of my favorites. Agree, the prospect of living on the distant lonely planet does not seem so bad: from time to time you start to think about it seriously. How real is it? Let's face it.

"The Little Prince» (Le Petit Prince) - this is the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, which tells the story of a boy who lives on the asteroid B-612. It was written in 1942, before we even know what it looks like an asteroid. The first time we looked at a small planet only in 1971, when the "Mariner 9" Take pictures of Deimos and Phobos.

Apparently, the asteroid The Little Prince had atmosphere and gravity, and even grew roses there. In fairness, we note: to criticize the scientific component of the book does not. Firstly, this story is not about asteroids. Secondly, the story clearly shows us what idiots there are adults who are trying to interpret everything literally.

What should be an asteroid, so that we can live on it?

The first thing to property - is gravity. To asteroid was gravity, similar to the earth, with the proviso that its radius is 1.75 meters, its weight should be about 500 million tons. For comparison, it is as much as weigh all the people living on Earth. That is our small planet - superdense.

Let the severity of a small planet and its gravity will be similar to the earth, we should not forget about the tidal forces. Your feet will thus heavier than the head. Remember, as a child sat on the carousel feet to the center? That's the feeling of tension, dizziness - exactly what we would have felt living on an asteroid.

Is it possible to fall from such a small planet?

In order to leave the asteroid, you need to move at a speed of 5 meters per second. This is slightly slower than a sprint, but a little faster than usual walk. A good example of such a run - a basketball dribbling and jump to the ring. If you perform this maneuver, you can leave the asteroid. Simple running in one direction will not lead to anything - your feet will remain on the surface.

On the one hand, this is good: it is possible, if desired, to visit parents or go to travel the route of the Little Prince. But, as usual, it was not without a trick. If your run is not fast enough, you will not be able to break away from their small planet and hit the road. But also to stay on it will not work. You will tighten the orbit and begin to turn at a speed of about 3 meters per second.

Due to the fact that our body has a complex shape, the rotation trajectory around the asteroid will be unusual. Do not count on the ellipse: studies show that the orbit can be even pentagonal. Actually, this information is the real practical application that attempts to calculate the trajectory for the complex and massive objects are necessary for the development of space freight elevators.

As for our situation with you, the conclusion is simple. While lodging at superdense small asteroids, you need to be careful not to accelerate or jump back and forth. Otherwise you will throw into orbit and you miss dinner.

But jumping straight up, without a run, the little prince can.