Orbital Drop Pod



Orbital Drop Pods are specialized atmospheric reentry craft that can be used to deliver personnel, vehicles, or other resources from outer space to the surface of a planet. In use for nearly three decades, they allow for the rapid deployment of ground assault troops near or right onto an objective. Their smaller profiles make them more difficult to destroy by defensive fire than conventional dropships.

Overview
A Drop Pod is an angular pod with the appearance of a huge, metallic, petaled flower bud. Depending on the make, model, country of origin and intended cargo, drop pods range from 6 to 24 meters tall. It is constructed of Titanium A, Lead Foil, and a ceramic skin. The interior is a transport chamber for the pod's passengers or cargo. Hardened and shielded communications gear feeds the drop pod's passengers information relevant to the current operation as well as providing a link between all members of the unit during the drop. While within a drop pod, a soldier's helmet- or cockpit-integrated comm units are redundant and are normally only used if the pod's comm gear malfunctions. Each pod bears a serial number assigned to its cargo before launch, to allow for identification of occupants should the pod be destroyed.

Drop pods are not usually armed, to allow them to carry the maximum amount of cargo during descent. While drop pods are armored to provide protection to their cargo during reentry, they remain vulnerable to anti-air defenses, such as SAM sites and interceptor aircraft. Nevertheless, they are sometimes used to deliver forces directly into enemy-controlled territory, a tactic dubbed "deep striking" by special operations forces.

Because of their ability to carry personnel and equipment from a warship in space to a terrestrial surface within a matter of minutes, drop pods are favored by elite rapid reaction forces (such as the Colonial Federation's Orbital Drop Shock Troopers or SPARTAN operatives).

Re-entry
Drop pods are launched directly from ships in orbit around a planet using a tactical recoilless orbital cannon, such as the Davy Crockett Delivery System. Once their cargo is loaded and properly secured, a 30-second countdown begins on the commander's mark. The drop pods then fire quickly down through the ship's belly. The drop pod is balanced to stabilize in a feet-down position. The pod has limited maneuvering capability, used primarily to coordinate landings. During atmospheric reentry, the pod's ceramic skin burns away during atmospheric reentry, protecting the rest of the pod and its occupant from the worst of the considerable heat. The lead foil keeps the armor from ripping away and is designed to replace the ceramic skin once it burns away.



After the drop pod has penetrated the atmosphere, at an altitude of 3,000 ft, thrusters located on the bottom of the pod activate, slowing and stabilizing its descent while at the same time keeping the pod on course. Depending on the sensitivity of cargo and possible presence of enemy anti-air defenses, the pod's petals then either break away moments before striking the surface (typically just over 150 meters (500 ft.), or open up after a safe though somewhat abrupt landing to allow its passengers to disembark. In a break-away pod, primary and secondary parachutes are then employed to slow the descent of pod's cargo.

Because of the sheer size of even personnel drop pods, they are capable of smashing through almost any surface during re-entry, including buildings. The most common insertion protocols call for the command unit of an orbital drop pod assault to land first to minimize the period of disorder that might occur as pods land and soldiers deploy.

Deathwind Drop Pod
The Deathwind Drop Pod is a specialized version of the standard Drop Pod that eschews its transport capacity in order to carry a significant amount of weapons and ammunition, essentially turning into a turret upon landing. These are usually five assault cannons pointing outwards in the area where soldiers would normally disembark from. They are dropped shortly preceding normal transport-capable Drop Pods, to add much-needed fire-support for disembarking soldiers. Thus far, the Zaftran Republic is the only military known to employ Deathwind Drop Pods.

Safety Concerns
The purpose of a drop pod is rapid deployment, not cargo comfort. Many occupants have suffered career-ending injuries while using orbital drop pods, including crushed vertebrae. Passengers typically experience an acceleration of about 12-14 g (117-137 m/s²). The sudden change from the simulated gravity of the launch chamber to the g-forces of reentry often leads to episodes of space-travel sickness amongst inexperienced passengers.

Independent studies have shown that once the ceramic skin burns away the air inside the pods becomes unbelievably hot, and if the armored skin that covers a pod is damaged before or during its entry into atmosphere it is a mathematical certainty that the heat shielding will fail spectacularly. In addition, because of the sequential natures of the Controlled Descent Systems (CDS), they are prone to failure on rare occasions, leaving the pod's occupants to die on impact, morbidly referred to as "digging your own grave".