Basketball for Space Cadets – Playing Basketball in Zero Gravity in a Space Colony

Indeed, I think everyone can agree that basketball is a fun sport to watch because it moves so fast, and the athletes with the greatest agility, skill, and speed tend to really shine on the court. Now then, what happens when we modify the game of basketball and play it in low-gravity or even zero gravity? What you ask? Well, consider that basketball is an all-time favorite American Sport, why there is even a basketball court in the White House! See what I mean?

Therefore you can bet that when humans colonize other planets or create free-floating space habitats that they will wish to play the game there as well. Makes perfect sense right, sure it does. Okay so, let’s talk. We’ve all seen the videos where Michael Jordan runs down the court, and launches himself from the top of the key and does a slam dunk. That level of agility is almost inhuman, and one can understand why famous shoe companies are willing to give him $100 million a year to wear their logos.

However, consider in space and an athlete of that caliber running down the court bouncing the ball in a low gravity environment. If it is a lunar colony remember the gravity is only one-fifth that of Earth. This means the athlete will be able to jump five times as high and five times as far. Are you beginning to see the problem? This means we have to modify the court, or put the basketball net up higher, and make the basketball court longer, or we need to come up with a different strategy.

The other day I was considering this and something came to mind; perhaps we could use gravity shoes to keep the level of play Earth like. Or maybe we don’t want to, as maybe this superhuman agility would be more fun for fans to watch? In a zero gravity environment we have real challenges. Consider if you will a space hotel orbiting the planet with a basketball court. You would really need gravity shoes then, and perhaps you want a repelling ceiling with a magnetic component inside the ball to keep it from floating or flying away, thus acting as if it was the opposite of gravity essentially acting in the same way.

Yes, the game of basketball’s going to get very interesting in the future isn’t it? And you can bet the space colonists will be playing the sport. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it. If you come up with any ideas, or solutions to any of these future challenges please shoot me an e-mail.

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