orbital paratrooping

[Jschmus]

There's always the Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle (SOEIV), from the Halo series.

http://www.bungie.net/images/Games/JKLSKESUDLD/concept_art/objects/Halo3-ODST_PodConcept-02.jpg

The SOEIV is an angular pod, approximately eighteen (18) feet tall, eight and a half (8.5) feet wide, and nine (9) feet deep with an entry hatch on one side. Within it is a crash seat, communications gear, numerous equipment racks, and a rudimentary control system. In spite of the size of the pod, there is not much room to move around, as the space given over to equipment storage lines the interior attached to the frame.

The trooper enters the SOEIV and straps in facing the hatch. The hardened and shielded communications gear, which is built directly into the hatch, feeds the soldier information relevant to the current operation as well as providing a link between all members of the unit during the drop. While within the SOEIV a soldier's helmet integrated comm units are redundant and are normally only used if the pod's comm gear malfunctions.

A 30-second countdown begins on the commander's mark, and the SOEIVs fire quickly down through the ship's belly. The SOEIV is balanced to stabilize in a feet-down position. The pod has limited maneuvering capability, used primarily to coordinate landings, but may be used to avoid defensive anti-aircraft fire. However, if defensive anti-aircraft is present it is almost a mathematical certainty that some pods will be lost. If the armored skin that covers a pod is damaged before or during its entry into atmosphere it has a tendency to fail spectacularly. And this is the reason for the SOEIV's small size—each hit only results in one death rather than the deaths of the entire unit.

UNSC insertion protocols call for the CO's SOEIV to accelerate after launch, placing it in the front rank of the advance. The reasons for this rule include the strongly held belief that officers should lead rather than follow, should be willing to do anything their troops are asked to do, and should expose themselves to the same level of danger as their subordinates.

The most compelling reason, however, is the need to collect, sort, and organize the troops the moment their boots touch ground. Experience demonstrates that whatever the ODSTs manage to accomplish during the first so-called "golden hour" on the ground will have a disproportionate effect on the success or failure of the entire mission. The commander's pod is equipped with a lot of gear that the regular "eggs" are not, including high-powered imaging gear, tactical sensors, and a 4th generation "dumb" AI.

After the SOEIV has penetrated the atmosphere, the upper exterior panels separate acting as a drag-type chute, slowing its descent some. At about 50 meters, the pod's computer controlled breaking rockets engage, slowing the pod further; allowing for a safe though somewhat abrupt landing.

Drag chutes on SOEIVs do fail on rare occasions, leaving the pod's occupant to die on impact. It's the death that every ODST trooper fears, and is referred to in hushed tones as "digging your own grave."

Upon landing, each ODST is responsible for stripping their pod of its store of extra weapons, ammo, and other supplies, which are then hauled to the unit's temporary base camp. ODSTs are used to operating without resupply for extended periods, and they are well known to be at their best when under difficult conditions.

Crew: 1
Length: 2.74 meters (9 feet)
Span: 2.6 meters (8.5 feet)
Height: 5.5 meters (18 feet)
Weight (empty): 870 kg (1918 lbs)

[renax]

A minor design failure :

lacks the retro rocket,
to slow down the speed

Without braking,
the pod will be desintegrated before touching athmosphere.

[Jschmus]

A minor design failure :

lacks the retro rocket,
to slow down the speed

Without braking,
the pod will be desintegrated before touching athmosphere.

There's no need.  The parachute-like apparatus above the pod contains an anti-gravity system that acts to counter all that.  Besides, it is just a game.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

There's always the Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle (SOEIV), from the Halo series.

http://www.bungie.net/images/Games/JKLSKESUDLD/concept_art/objects/Halo3-ODST_PodConcept-02.jpg

Google SketchUp has a 3D model of that thing.  I never realized what it was supposed to be thanks to the creator assuming everyone knew what it was and what it was supposed to do.  The 3D model is rather impressive and shows the same kind of internal details as depicted in your link.  I was unaware that the pod relied solely on the four petal drag device for the entire deployment.  I would have imagined a parachute being used somewhere between feet on the ground and entry into the upper atmosphere.  Still a neat and rather involved design for something that originated in a video game.

[renax]

its nice to see the 3D !

the petals are airbrakes;

Also the solution of a rotating device with blades exists:

it deployes and act as an airbrake,
like a copter "propeler" wiht shut down engines,
but this is only after the re-entry.

[renax]

by the way, a last post:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,28418.msg428699.html#msg428699

a new fig for sale:,(90mm, 1/20scale, price 24 euros)
http://www.sharkit.com/alterra1/alterraserie/alterraserie.htm
is it the right place ?

                    

I also have a few capsules:



enjoy !!

[sagallacci]

My one problem/question about all that is that it assumes both a technically inferior opponent and a no nuke/WoMD ballistic/orbital weapons situation.
Something man-size de-orbiting/coming in ballistically would, nowadays, be considered something a lot worse than just a guy with a gun. An opponent with any kind of ABM/ATBM/advanced AA system would be all over an incoming like that. And there is no such thing as stealth during atmospheric entry.

[GTX]

An opponent with any kind of ABM/ATBM/advanced AA system would be all over an incoming like that.

Except the beancounters would freak over using a expensive missile (forget Sliver or even Gold, these would be Platinum Bullets with Diamond coatings and a few rare earths thrown in for good measure!) to shoot down individuals.

Regards,

Greg

[jcf]

An opponent with any kind of ABM/ATBM/advanced AA system would be all over an incoming like that.

Except the beancounters would freak over using a expensive missile (forget Sliver or even Gold, these would be Platinum Bullets with Diamond coatings and a few rare earths thrown in for good measure!) to shoot down individuals.

Regards,

Greg

Except that the technology of a workable orbital insertion pod would be far more expensive than the missiles
needed to shoot them down. Truth is, Heinlein's whole concept is rather daft.

[renax]

have in mind its
a science fiction novel
wrote in 1959.

also a missile usualy cost far less that its target.

but I agree the idea seems stupid NOW,
50 years later

[renax]

an original animation showing the troopers boarding capsule;
(a test for the Startrooper short movie)

http://alterra1.blogspot.com/2010/05/test-video-startrooper-shot2.html

[tinlail]

have in mind its
a science fiction novel
wrote in 1959.

also a missile usualy cost far less that its target.

but I agree the idea seems stupid NOW,
50 years later

One thing that hasn't been mentioned here, these troops can fire nuclear rockets at ground targets. There are really individual troops they are; heavily armored, capable of limited flight, highly mobile, and heavily armed. And Heinlein noted in the story that the cost effective way to attack a planet was to blow up the planet.

[renax]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned here, these troops can fire nuclear rockets at ground targets. There are really individual troops they are; heavily armored, capable of limited flight, highly mobile, and heavily armed. And Heinlein noted in the story that the cost effective way to attack a planet was to blow up the planet.

yes.

http://sharkit.com/alterra1/star-trooper/star-trooper.htm

[renax]

http://sharkit.com/alterra1/star-trooper/star-trooper.htm

[sagallacci]

An opponent with any kind of ABM/ATBM/advanced AA system would be all over an incoming like that.

Except the beancounters would freak over using a expensive missile (forget Sliver or even Gold, these would be Platinum Bullets with Diamond coatings and a few rare earths thrown in for good measure!) to shoot down individuals.

You miss the point that an incoming RV could be "merely a man" or a nuke or other WoMD, and the cost/benefit goes the other way really fast.