1. Boarding: Colonists will need to make their way to the nearest available evacuation pod. (Design considerations for the colony will include ease of access between all available pods.) Pods will be mounted on the top of the colony to ensure that the pods buoyancy will not be impeded by the structure itself. The pods will be boarded from underneath via ladder, again to minimize any potential obstructions above the pods, impeding their path to the surface.
2. Movement: The pods will be primarily driven to the surface due to buoyancy. This is to minimize the risk of any potential system failures that could impede their travel to the surface, and allocate space within the pod for survival, rather than propulsion. As the purpose of the pods is to get evacuees to the surface for rescue, it does not have a propulsion system, rather just a beacon for location from rescue personnel.
3. Protect and Sustain: The pod has multiple functions to sustain the occupants for a target 7 day rescue window. * A broadcast beacon and satellite communication system that starts to broadcast automatically upon reaching the surface. * A water purification system to take in sea water and process it to be fresh water. * 7 days of food rations within the storage compartments * Sleeping areas for the evacuees to be able to lay down and rest. * A composting water closet for the condensed disposal of waste. * An Atmospheric Control System to ensure the proper pressure while surfacing. * Power cells to act as emergency back-up
4.Once the pod surfaces, the outer fins unfold to create a large footprint to create stability for the pod. The inner pod stays as an enclosure to protect from rough weather that may be at the surface at the time of the evacuation. These outer panels inflate to create additional occupiable space on the surface of the water. This creates 3 benefits: 1. This helps alleviate the risk of claustrophobia and panic from being stuck inside the pod. 2. they have solar panels on them to recharge the power cells, maintaining the beacon and other communications to assist in the location and rescue of the occupants. 3. This flat surface surrounding the height of the central pod provides easier access for rescue helicopters or nearby vessels to extract the evacuees.
©2021 Built by Yiting Duan
