• The new B5TV.COM is here. We've replaced our 16 year old software with flashy new XenForo install. Registration is open again. Password resets will work again. More info here.

Get To the Lifepods?

Cell

Regular
We hear this quite a bit on B5, especially from on John J. Sheridan. But, does it really matter if the crew gets to the lifepods? Let's take a look at an EAS Omega Destroyer for instance. An Omega carries close to 19,000 people on board in-between troops and crew. Now even if we assume that a fair amount of people have died during an attack, how many of those people can actually make it to a lifepod? Are the lifepods one being vessels, or do they carry more than one? And, just how many lifepods are on a ship, do you think?
 
Last edited:
Well we've seen succesful lifepod ejections from a Streib ship and from a Whitestar... in those cases, the ship carried (but was not necessarily restricted to) two passengers.

I'm pointing that out merely to suggest that there is little basis for assuming Earthforce operates evacuation procedures of 1 crewmember per pod. If other sentient races use pods for multiple passeengers, it's likely Eartjhforce do too.

For that matter weren't B5's lifepods used to convey more than one person? In A View from the Gallery, Sheridan and Delenn were being sent to the same one before they ducked out, IIRC. The most logical place to house pods would be on the rotating section of the Omega, as the centrefugal force would help to expel the pods from the dying vesselin question.

I don't think there are enough lifepods for every crewmember. I think that the military would in all likelihood accept that if circumstances were dire enough to warrant an evacuation, crew losses would be high already... and the presence of lifepods isn't there to guarantee the survival of evacuating crew... they are there to give people the best chance of survival.

Soa dying hulk is survivable but a reactor explosion is unlikely to yield survivors.

As for getting clear of the disaster zone
 
I suppose that the full capacity of an Omega Class Destroyer is 19 000 people and most of them are ground-pounders like those we see in "GROPOS".I think that the destroyer is full of troops only during a war or a special mission.In the other cases I presume that the ship carries not more than several hundred people.In that case there could be room for the whole crew in the lifepods.Although it could get really ugly if there's room only for a few hundred people in the lifepods and 19 000 are fighting to get to them.But everyone knows the risks of going to war.
 
I'd love to see this question answered by a scientist. As was pointed out earlier in this thread, we as television/film sci-fi fans tend to think of big, firey explosions in space. In reality, the lack of oxygen in space would make a spaceship's doom rather unremarkable to look at.

I have no idea myself the relative area of destruction of a reactor explosion. Or how much the ship's hull (or whatever is left of it) might protect fleeing lifepods. I would think, personally and off the top of my head, that running out of oxygen before rescue would be your main problem in a lifepod. How quickly could rescue ships get to you? Could any? If not, you're a goner without a liveable planet very close by, I'd think. And again, despite our impressions of this from stories, earth-like planets aren't going to be scattered at convenient intervals where we might explore.

How well could you steer a lifepod, anyway? I'm thinking of the almost-doomed moon trip that was Apollo 13, IIRC. Hell, we had great difficulty getting men back from our own orbit.
 
I'd love to see this question answered by a scientist. As was pointed out earlier in this thread, we as television/film sci-fi fans tend to think of big, firey explosions in space. In reality, the lack of oxygen in space would make a spaceship's doom rather unremarkable to look at.

Although I largely agree...wouldn't the presence of internal gasses onboard the ship allow for a brief flash of fire. Though even that depends on how much was vented into space during a battle.

How well could you steer a lifepod, anyway? I'm thinking of the almost-doomed moon trip that was Apollo 13, IIRC. Hell, we had great difficulty getting men back from our own orbit.

Probably only has limited steering capability on the offchance that it is ejected within orbit of a suitable planetary body. My impression is that it's main purpose would be to transmit a distress signal (ala War Zone), in the hope of passing vessels showing up.

Perhaps there is an interstellar practice of warring races picking up their adversaries lifepods and taking prisoners of war... rather than just leaving everyone in the cold dead of night.
 
I suppose that the full capacity of an Omega Class Destroyer is 19 000 people and most of them are ground-pounders like those we see in "GROPOS".I think that the destroyer is full of troops only during a war or a special mission.{snip}

The GROPOS will have landing craft. The landing craft should also work as life pods.
 
Perhaps there is an interstellar practice of warring races picking up their adversaries lifepods and taking prisoners of war... rather than just leaving everyone in the cold dead of night.

Yes, I would guess that's the occupant's only hope. But even we in wartime don't always do that (if a mission's objectives don't allow for hanging around and picking up survivors).

As far as having enough lifepods for everyone, One point to make is (if you are willing to put the money into it) the surface area of a large structure is very large, indeed. Our own large passengerliners have more than enough escape boats, don't they, for every passenger and crewmemeber? Of course, we are assuming a more mundane reason for evacuation (not an explosion, but a leak or something like that).

And as far as getting far enough away to do any good, that is a valid point. Even though the visible explosion would be mostly contained by the ship (I would think), the blast wave, radiation, etc, must be phenomenal to say the least. How well protected would the lifepods be?

Oh, and there is radiation in space that our atmosphere naturally filters out, isn't there? I seem to recall watching a science show once that mentioned an often-overlooked complication to long-term space travel or occupancy: we are robbed of this natural protection from all of the space radiation and such that our atmosphere gives us.

Perhaps the real question would be, for the forseeable future at least, would there be any point in having lifepods? Which is, of course, the question that started this thread. :LOL:
 
Perhaps the real question would be, for the forseeable future at least, would there be any point in having lifepods? Which is, of course, the question that started this thread. :LOL:

Maybe there will be lifepods in the future when we find out a way to make interstellar tavel possible.Science fiction can deceive some people that it's easy to do it but so far with the technology we have we need 70 000 years of space travel just to get to the nearest star(4,5 light years away from Earth).Modern physics has proven that hyperspace exist but nobody has a clue yet how to open a jump point or control it.I'm really optimisic that the 21st century will finally reveal this mystery.

Space is really VAST and I don't think that it will make any difference whether there are lifepods or not.I think that even if they send a distress signal they don't have enough power to sent it trough hyperspace.We know that radio waves travel at the speed of light so the signal will be heard by someone years later.
 
Last edited:
There have to be several different types/sizes of "Lifepods" for different size/ type of ships. Thus every starfury would have exactly one: no need for redundency there.:D There would also be differences between civilian and military lifepods. Civilian ships would have room for every passenger and crew member, with some sort of tachyon beacon broadcasting on a defined frequency, as they would generally fly along well travelled paths. Military ships probably would have several options depending on combat/non-combat missions. A transport ship would use its shuttle craft as lifepods and have enough for the crew, maybe. If lifepods were used in a combat setting, they dont need to use faster than light beacons, possibly an energy/mass saver. A Capitol warship is a huge lifepod, even damaged. If destroyed, it would be generally be swiftly, and after most of the crew were already dead, so that cuts down on the need for a 1 to 1 ratio.

B5 is both, a huge, deadly Capitol ship and a civilian transport vehicle/port. :beer:
Just some thoughts, carry on.:D
 

Latest posts

Members online

Back
Top