An escape pod, escape capsule, life capsule, or lifepod is a capsule or craft, usually only big enough for one person, used to escape from a vessel in an emergency. An escape ship is a larger, more complete craft also used for the same purpose. Escape pods are ubiquitous in science fiction but are only used in a few real vehicles.
Real life
edit- Because they were intended to fly too high and fast for safe use of conventional ejection seats, the Bell X-2, B-58 Hustler, XB-70 Valkyrie, F-111 and B‑1A Lancer all used enclosed escape crew capsules of some kind.
- A similar concept OSCAR (Optimum Survival Containment and Recovery), was intended for the Vought F-8 Crusader.[1][2]
- The single submarine of the Soviet "Mike"-class, K-278 Komsomolets had an escape capsule, which was jettisoned upon its sinking in 1989. Other Soviet submarines like the Oscar-class are only rumored to have escape capsules. During the sinking of the Kursk, the crew was unable to reach it. Also the Typhoon-class is rumored to have escape pods located near or in the sail. Evidence for this can be found in a German documentary on the Typhoon-class submarine Severstal. The Shishumar class submarine has an IKL-designed integrated escape sphere. The sphere has accommodations for the entire crew with an eight-hour air supply.[3][4]
Fiction
editEscape pods are frequently depicted as being used by large spacecraft in science fiction, for example the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars, the Axiom in WALL-E, and the vessels of Starfleet in Star Trek. The 1981 film Lifepod and the 1993 TV film of the same name both revolve around such vehicles.
See also
editWikimedia Commons has media related to Escape pod.
Look up escape pod in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- Lifeboat – Small boat carried on a ship for emergency evacuation
- Escape crew capsule – Aircraft crew escape system
- Launch escape system – A system to get the crew to safety if a rocket launch fails
- Apollo abort modes – Plans for mission abort during an Apollo spacecraft launch
- Space Shuttle abort modes – NASA Space Shuttle safety procedures
- Orion abort modes – Launch abort modes used by the Orion spacecraft
- Soyuz abort modes – Soyuz spacecraft emergency crew rescue systems
- Escape Pod – Science fiction podcast
References
edit- ^ Naval Aviation News, July 1971
- ^ https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/histories/naval-aviation/Naval%20Aviation%20News/1970/pdf/jul71.pdf
- ^ ARG. "Shishumar Class Patrol Submarine - Military-Today.com". www.military-today.com. Archived from the original on January 27, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
- ^ "Shishumar Class".