BSC2020: Daeothar's crashed escape pod

[AKULA]

Looks excellent....although I must say it’s not a great advert for the Mega Corporation that produces the escape pods if they explode on impact....was it manufactured by ACME Corp

 

[gamer Mac]

Looking good

[Daeothar]

[syrinx0]

What?! Plasticard stocks are at an all time low?  That needs to be addressed immediately. 

Hope I don't own any DWAN stock...

[Ragnar]

Looks excellent....although I must say it’s not a great advert for the Mega Corporation that produces the escape pods if they explode on impact....was it manufactured by ACME Corp

 

That's not from an explosion... it's as if... something tore it's way in.

[Daeothar]

Yes, that must be it; no way a well produced and trustworthy piece of equipment like this could ever fail of its own!

I'm going to leave the cause of the blow-out ambiguous on purpose, so the piece can be used in a number of different scenarios.

Right now I'm working on the four pods that will be inside the (escape) vehicle. Well, actually... 3 will be inside, right where they were bolted down during fabrication, but one will be on a separate base, having been blown out of the pod sometime during planet fall. Could have happened outside of the atmosphere, or during the touchdown/crash; who knows?

3 pods will be closed, including the one outside of the pod, and one will be opened. I'm thinking up a hinge mechanism that will not impede any other pods opening, and also leave enough of the interior of the pod visible to show it's indeed empty. With four pods inside, it's becoming cramped pretty quickly, so I'll have to be inventive here...

The outside door will have been blown out by explosive bolts, which are there in case of an emergency (after the previous emergency which triggered the launch of the pod, obviously. When it rains, it pours ). Therefore it will also be on a separate base.

I am planning to keep the base(s) as small as possible. this will enable me to set down the pod in even very cramped spaces, and the separate door can then be placed nearby at any angle and distance. I had originally planned to make it part of the pod's base, but I think this will be much more versatile on the table.

Obviously the same goes for the ejected tube, but making that a separate piece had always been the plan.

The accompanying fluff in my mind has coalesced into the tubes inside of the escape pod being a combination of grav-couches and cryo-tubes, to ensure the safety and survival of their occupants during both atmospheric ingress and possibly a (very?) long space journey towards a planet capable of sustaining human life. This also means that there will be no need for huge amounts of supplies for the occupants to see them through months or even years of drifting through space towards (relative) safety.

Obviously there will be survival kits available for the occupants for when the pod finally makes planet fall somewhere.

The lower part of the pod, below the floor, is dedicated to the pod's deep space and deceleration engines and their fuel (which won't be much, obviously), while the top part of the pod houses the navigational and life support systems, possibly a low level AI to manage all systems while the occupants are sleeping.

[Daeothar]

And all of a sudden, there's just 10 days left, and I failed to make any progress beyond what I already posted... 

Dutch Carnaval really got in my way there, and now I can actually feel the deadline.

Better get cracking tonight!

[Blackwolf]

Good man

[AKULA]

And all of a sudden, there's just 10 days left, and I failed to make any progress beyond what I already posted... 

Dutch Carnaval really got in my way there, and now I can actually feel the deadline.

Better get cracking tonight!

Know that feeling...I’m away during the week for work so going to have to blitz it at the weekend to finish in time.

[Codsticker]

And all of a sudden, there's just 10 days left, and I failed to make any progress beyond what I already posted... 

Dutch Carnaval really got in my way there, and now I can actually feel the deadline.

Better get cracking tonight!

It sure goes by fast...

[Daeothar]

Well, I didn't get to do as much as I'd wanted, but there was significant progress nonetheless!

I have nearly finished the grav-couches annex cryo-pods. In the picture, the two on the right are done, the second one from the left just needs the seals around the lid added and the leftmost one is the one that will be opened, so I created a simple interior, with straps and cushions. The lid/door will be swiveled up by means of an arm on the right of the pod.

All pods still require the addition of this arm and a small control panel and/or display screen on the pod.

As you can see, the three closed pods are filled with some sort of cryo gas (getting technobabbly here ), which will safely keep the occupant asleep during the escape, no matter how long this might take. The onboard AI will also assess the physical condition of the occupant, and could opt to keep them asleep, even after touchdown for their own safety, until medical assistance can be provided by outside sources.

All of this does not really matter for the occupant of the pod on the right, who probably failed to properly apply the safety harness before closing the pod, and was thrown around violently during touchdown.*

On the outside, I have cut out the indentations where the handhold rails and footholds are. The footholds will remain as is (but obviously the open holes will also be covered from the inside), but handhold rails will be put into the slots next to the door, as per my initial sketch.

It's going to be tight, as I will have to do some traveling this week, severely cutting down on my hobby time. But I'm still mildly positive I can make it (as long as I don't catch anything... ).

* The DWAN corporation will not be responsible for this loss though, as clearly the occupant did not follow the safety instructions, and no compensation will be forwarded.

[Codsticker]

That is some fiddly work- really nicely done. I have all confidence that this will be done by Sunday.

[gamer Mac]

LOOKING GOOD

[syrinx0]

Hopefully it's a short trip and you stay healthy!

Any comment from the DWAN corporation regarding the rumors the safety equipment was substandard as interior camera's showed the occupant following procedures?

[Blackwolf]

That looks very good