Guide:Class D3 (pod)

Class D3
Class Overview
Category	work pod
Operational	2164-2237
Constructed	2,000+
Dimensions
Length	2.1 m (manipulators stowed)
Beam	2.2 m
Height	2.3 m
Mass	0.84 tons
Performance
Cruise Speed	sublight (thrusters)
Max Speed	sublight (thrusters)
Endurance	2 days
Complement
Crew	1
Canonicity
Design	Game-canon
Name	Game-canon
History	Game-canon

At the very lowest end of the scale for maintenance spacecraft, the Class D pod was in essence a heavy, rigid spacesuit, albeit endowed with more manipulators and tooling than just the two cybernetically boosted arms of the operator. Between the 2230s and the 2270s, the most popular type in Starfleet use was the D6 model, a design fitting into the standard launching chutes of starships, even if leaving the vision dome and a ring of dexterous manipulators to protrude outside the starship hull. The central cylinder would lie horizontally in the chute, with the lowermost cluster of propulsion units swinging out of the way to allow the operator to crawl in. The basic D61-10 variant featured ten tentacle-type manipulators, each with an adjoining miniature airlock that would store end tools and (after proper heating and decontamination) allow the operator direct access to delicate items brought in by the manipulator arm. There was no separate anchoring arm, beam or gravitic grapple, stationkeeping being left to the thruster system and any spare manipulator tentacles. As a typical cruiser or frigate design featured four chutes next to the shuttle hangar area, two were typically occupied by a Class D repair pod; one would contain a special sensors pod (itself typically a variant of model D6, found both in crewed and uncrewed variants) and one would be left free for deploying the wide range of payloads stocked aboard. Chute launch gave extremely rapid reaction capability for time-critical repair and containment work – an operator could dive into the pod without prior preparation, hitting a starter button while entering and performing a clean ejection just four seconds from the securing of hatch seals. Chute venting systems could give optional initial delta-vee, but “swim-out” launching was far more typical. Two-day endurance assumed standard life support conditions (i.e. no onboard fires or toxic releases) and moderate use of maneuvering propellant, a crucial resource when gravitic propulsion was lacking. In theory, a hibernation mode was available, with onboard medication to keep the occupant alive for up to eight days without food or water and a minimum of breathing air. Standard beacons were provided to assist recovery of an incapacitated pod. There are some survival stories of ingenious use of personal items for gaining the attention of another vessel, made possible by the access airlocks. At times, the D6 even saw combat use of sorts, with the user’s hand phaser drawn by a manipulator limb!

Use of chute-launched pods dwindled in the 2270s, and standardized launch chutes were eliminated from most starship designs introduced after 2275; various scientific airlocks, garbage chutes and the like naturally persisted. The D6 still got a range of less well known successors for use aboard older ships, but none of these models remained in use for more than a decade, and none survived past the turn of the century.

Gallery

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Notes

• Game-canon, replaces the Guide D6, and moved earlier.

• 4x manipulator arms

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• Appendix D: Abbreviations From Outside