ESCAPE PODS AND ESCAPE POD HATCHES

Autonomous survival and rescue vehicles can be ejected from Voyager so that the crew can evacuate the ship in cases of extreme emergency. The order to abandon ship is given on the following occasions: [#33 Dreadnought]. Because Janeway sets the ship's auto-destruct, planning to deliberately collide with the missile nicknamed Dreadnought in order to prevent it hitting the planet Rakosa V. However, Torres managed to disable the missile and Janeway cancelled the auto-destruct sequence. The crew were retrieved.   [#76 and #77 Year of Hell]. Because it occurred in an alternative timeline the event never actually happened.   [#145 The Haunting of Deck 12]. Janeway gave the order because the hostile alien shut down all ship systems including life support in order to try and coerce Janeway. The launch of escape pods is not seen on the tv screen in this episode.   [#162 Workforce Part One]. The order was given because the crew was suffering tetryon radiation poisoning. The Emergency Command Hologram (namely the Doctor but bringing online in his program over 2 million tactical subroutines) was activated (Janeway's authorisation code "Janeway Omega 3") to look after and steer Voyager meanwhile, with the intention of collecting the crew later The retrieval of escape pods does not appear on the tv screen. The altered Barclay hologram incapacitated Seven and kidnapped her, taking her with it in an escape pod (picture) in a failed attempt to travel through a geodesic fold to its Ferengi masters waiting in the Alpha Quadrant [#152 Inside Man]. Seven and the hologram were beamed back to Voyager. It is assumed the escape pod was destroyed.

Escape pods eject from Voyager and hurtle through space. [#162 Workforce] Voyager's escape pods are launched (pop-up window) [Workforce]

During construction at Starfleet's Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, Vessel Frame IC-103, which was the designation for USS Voyager NCC-74656, the final design specifications provided for the slight enlargement of previous lifeboat designs (such as those carried aboard the Galaxy-class starships) in order to accommodate six crew, up from the original four. The relatively small volume lost within the Intrepid-class starship would also be used to give each lifeboat an operating lifetime of almost 16 months, and a total impulse range of 0.25 light years. Jettisonable hatches were replaced with hinged covers in the event that shipboard emergencies were averted following pod launch. Improved communications and life-support systems could be shared through the docking of multiple lifeboats in "gaggle mode" first proven in the Galaxy-class (see below).

The canon sources that I possess give data on the escape pods (a.k.a. lifeboats) for the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 refit of 2270, just over a century before USS Voyager was first taken into the Delta Quadrant, and for the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D which was launched in 2363 [TNG: Lonely Among US]. Those ships were Constitution-class and Galaxy-class starships respectively. The article Escape pods (a.k.a. lifeboats) aboard USS Enterprise NCC-1701 refit 2270 and USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D 2363 contains diagrams, specifications and instructions for using a lifeboat. Certain information about Voyager's escape pods can be inferred from that data as follows:

The first group of autonomous survival and recovery vehicles (ASRVs) were delivered to Starfleet in 2337 in time to be fitted to the last Renaissance class starship, the USS Hokkaido, and with minimal hardware and software changes were chosen as the lifeboats for the Galaxy-class. Automated facilities on Earth, Mars, Rigel IV, and Starbase 326 produce 85% of the ASRVs, with satellite facilities on Velikan V and Rangifer II acting as industry second-sources for the remaining 15% - information current as at late 2360s and may have changed since.

As set out in the original Starfleet specifications, the standardised ASRV, is capable of the following operations:

• Rapid departure from its parent starship with a minimum velocity of 40 m/s. That speed is likely to be continually improved with each new model of escape pod manufactured.
• Independent maneuvering with a delta-v of 3,600 m/sec. That specification may have been improved slightly for the escape pods installed in USS Voyager seven to eight years after this specification for the Enterprise-D in 2363.
• Life support for a total of eighty-six person-days. With the improvement of technology together with any improvements in storage design, that figure may have increased slightly for the escape pods installed in USS Voyager seven to eight years after this specification for the Enterprise-D in 2363.
• Recombination with other lifeboats after ejection to augment survivability by forming larger clusters.
  This capability, nicknamed "gaggle mode" by experienced pilots, dramatically increases in-space survival rates by affording access to wounded crew members by medical personnel, combining consumables supplies, and adding propulsion options. Gaggle mode must be terminated prior to atmosphere entry, as the structural loads cannot be handled by the combined craft.
• Subspace radio signalling for location and recovery.
  When Janeway, in the unrealised timeline depicted in [#76 and #77 Year of Hell] addresses the crew, she gives the order to abandon ship: "The escape pods are equipped with subspace beacons. That's how we will keep track of you. When we find each other again, and we will, we will find each other again, I expect all of you to be in one piece, with some interesting stories to tell."
• Atmosphere entry and landing.

No doubt escape pods have two methods of departing from parent ship, as per the escape pods of the Constitution-class starship USS Enterprise NCC-1701 refit in 2270:
A forced ejection system which propels the lifeboat outward at high speed, used when it is essential to get very far away from the parent ship very quickly e.g. in cases of warp core breach (whether accident or by engaging the ship's self-destruct system). As per the 2270 Constitution-class starships, it is likely that escape pods can be ejected by the ship's computer or manually.
A 'soft' ejection where the escape pod more or less drifts into space. This is what is used in the unrealised timeline depicted in [Year of Hell]. It is probably the method used in [Workforce] but the speed of the several escape pods on which the camera focuses indicates a rather rapid departure.

In Galaxy-class starships such as the Enterprise-D launched in 2363, eight years before USS Voyager, the ejection initiator is a single-pulse, buffered microfusion device that propels the lifeboat through the launch channel. Power is tapped from the fusion reaction to start the lifeboat's inertial damping field and spin up the gravity generator. The same fundamental principles are unlikely to have changed in other Starfleet ships such as USS Voyager (Intrepid-class). The inertial damping field protects the escape pod occupants against acceleration forces. The main impulse engine, a low-power microfusion system for all primary spacecraft maneuvering, is fed from a deuterium fuel supply. The reaction control system performs all precise attitude and translation motions required for combined operations with other lifeboats and maneuvering during planetary landing. Life support on the ASRV is maintained by its automatic environmental system, providing complete atmospheric composition, pressure, humidity, and temperature control. Stored food and water supplies as well as a waste management system are included. Lightweight environment suits are stowed with portable survival packs for planetside operation. Environment suits (also called environmental suits) (also called in other Star Trek shows, a standard extravehicular work garment (SEWG)) would be provided per person, in case personnel have to leave the escape pod in zero-gravity conditions. This would also be in keeping with the fact that environmental suits are standard equipment kept aboard (Starfleet and thus) Voyager's shuttlecraft - Paris and Torres use them to abandon the Type-12 shuttlecraft called Cochrane in [#71 Day of Honor].

The escape pod hatch numbers on the Bandai model of USS Voyager, which is Paramount-authorised, do not necessarily match those in the show. I noticed this with regard to hatches seen up close in [#140 Good Shepherd]. On the Bandai model they are 1120 (nearest the Ready Room) and 1008. In the screenshot they are 816 and 451 respectively.

[#140 Good Shepherd]

As regards the number of escape pods: A gentleman who answered the Sensor Sweep site feedback survey wrote: "According to the Voyager Writer's tech manual that was leaked from Paramount a while back, Voyager has 36 escape pods capable of holding 6 crew each. Since you're so bad with maths, that's approximately 216 personnel maximum evacuation. It's from the writer's tech manual though, so I'm not sure if you concider it canon." The writer's tech manual, at the time of writing, has not been published although a copy was being offered for sale by, apparently, a member of [DS9] and I am not convinced of its authenticity; the tech manual has several different editions. I believe Paramount should make haste to publish it and any other information desired by fans, so as not to capitalise on fans' interest which, given too much passage of time, may wane.

 

Next page: AEROSHUTTLE (CAPTAIN'S YACHT) AND SURROUNDING AREA.

TOP BACK PREVIOUS NEXT DETAILED EXTERIOR TOUR INDEX SEARCH SECTION