The pods in 2001 make no sense

[Docbrown777]

They don't. What is their purpose? When the antenna supposedly breaks and the astronaut guy goes out to fix it he gets in a pod just to travel half way down the ship. Why did he even take the pod in the first place?

Not just that but why do they need three of these things? It isn't like they are landers. Their sole purpose seems to be to just fly around the ship.

Unfortunately thinking about this makes me realize they were there onlyfor plot purposes and didn't serve a rational function. It seems they are there so the pod could kill the one guy (how would HAL kill him otherwise and the other guy would be able to go outside the ship to rescue him without having on a full space suit thus setting up the airlock scene. Hrm...

Kind of hurts the story to realize that because the only part of the film I find somewhat enjoyable is the middle.

 

[FluffyUnbound]

They don't. What is their purpose? When the antenna supposedly breaks and the astronaut guy goes out to fix it he gets in a pod just to travel half way down the ship. Why did he even take the pod in the first place?

Not just that but why do they need three of these things? It isn't like they are landers. Their sole purpose seems to be to just fly around the ship.

Unfortunately thinking about this makes me realize they were there onlyfor plot purposes and didn't serve a rational function. It seems they are there so the pod could kill the one guy (how would HAL kill him otherwise and the other guy would be able to go outside the ship to rescue him without having on a full space suit thus setting up the airlock scene. Hrm...

Kind of hurts the story to realize that because the only part of the film I find somewhat enjoyable is the middle.

The pods have robot arms. I think as Clarke originally conceived them, you would do repairs by getting in a pod, doing an EVA, and using the robot arms to do the repair.

Russians had spacewalked at that point, but I don't think any NASA guys had. We've seen enough spacewalks that we just assume you could do an EVA using a jetpack to do the repair, but I don't think Clarke thought that was possible at the time the story was written.

 

[Kibbin]

The reason they have more than one is most likely in case of damage or accident. As for why they have any? I'm not sure. Protection? Working on larger projects, I know stuff doesn't way but trying to grip an entire sheet of metal might not be too easy in a space suit. They might also have tools equipped to the arms for repair work and the like. Also they could cime in handy in case of evacuation. I know they were a long way out so it wouldn't do them much good but might as well chuck a few on board just incase they break down, or blow up on Earth's doorstep.

 

[Reverend]

What is the purpose of any vehicle? To get somewhere quicker and easier than you can on your own two legs.
I imagine there's three of them because there were some jobs that would potentially require two pods out at the same time, plus a spare if one breaks down. As for fixing the antennae, all he did was basically swap out a circuit board, which is more of a hands on job, as opposed to say for example: removing the whole array, which would require the claws and thrusters of the pod. As for why he used the pod just to go there and back rather than space walking it, I imagine it's a matter of convenience and comfort. Hopping in a pod and zooming off halfway down the ship is much quicker and easier than hoofing it from the nearest airlock. Once he's in the pod and it's pressurised he can take off the helmet and have a relatively easy ride, minimising the time he spends in actual EVA.

I can think of a few other practical concerns. Radiation shielding for one. They're well outside Earth's magnetosphere and won't have the same kind of protection from radiation, so the less time they spend outside the better. Another would be if they need to move any heavy equipment. Better to load it in the back than haul it outside on a tether.

 

[David cgc]

I imagine there's three of them because there were some jobs that would potentially require two pods out at the same time, plus a spare if one breaks down.

Which actually came about in the book version of 2010, where the Leonov didn't have pods of its own. Discovery had lost the one that was used to kill Poole, and the one that Bowman took into the monolith, so they only had the third one to work with.

 

[chardman]

They had those pods because they had a lot of stuff to move around once they reached Jupiter. The cargo containers making up the ship's spine weren't empty ya know. They contained all sorts of equipment and supplies that weren't needed during the voyage itself, but would be needed once discovery got to its destination.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

They had those pods because they had a lot of stuff to move around once they reached Jupiter. The cargo containers making up the ship's spine weren't empty ya know. They contained all sorts of equipment and supplies that weren't needed during the voyage itself, but would be needed once discovery got to its destination.

I agree. Also, there were 3 pods because there were 3 hibernating survey team members to use the pods to survey Jupiter and its moons. It has been decades since I read the book but A. C. Clarke probably mentioned this as the reasons for the pods.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[EnsignRicky]

So that they could have pod races; Duh.

 

[Forbin]

They're diving bells.

Repairing the antenna was too delicate an operation for the pod claws, hence they had to exit the pod and do it manually. But if there were some large components to repair/replace/move, or the antenna got stuck and needed to be physically turned (for example), they'd need the powerful claws and thrusters of the pods.

 

[Vonstadt]

I also pretty much assume much like deep sea explorer submarines, they go ahead and explore and perform studies away from the Discovery.

Though they can be utulized for ship maintiance and repair they also served the above purpose for when the ship reached its destination. To allow the Discovery crew the ability to multi task during the primary mission, well had it been succesful.

Made sense to me, an astronaut can only carry so much on his or her own during an EVA.

Vons

 

[chardman]

Ya wanna talk about something that makes no sense in 2001, related to the pods, let's talk about the Pod Bay itself.

Why three separate doors, when all open into the same place? Likewise, why depressurize the whole Pod Bay every time a pod enters/exits?

Well...

As I understand it, each pod was originally to be in its own mini-bay within the larger Pod Bay. These mini-bays could be de/re-pressurized independently, which is why each bay required its own outer door. However, it was important for the audience to see the pods within the larger bay, if only to set up the lip-reading scene later in the film. So these walls originally had large windows in them, so that the pods could clearly be seen within them. Problem is, all that glass, set at those angles, created a veritable hall of mirriors, and made it practically impossible to set up a shot that didn't also reflect lights, the camera, and the production crew.

Eventually, the mini-bay idea was simply dropped, and the walls between the pods were removed. Just one of those occasions where aesthetics and story-telling needs superseded technical accuracy.

 

[Silvercrest]

Ya wanna talk about something that makes no sense in 2001, related to the pods, let's talk about the Pod Bay itself.

Why three separate doors, when all open into the same place? Likewise, why depressurize the whole Pod Bay every time a pod enters/exits?

Hey, it was the sixties. The Beatles' house in "Help!" did the same thing. Four doors, one for each of them.

 

[BolianAuthor]

2001 makes no sense.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Ya wanna talk about something that makes no sense in 2001, related to the pods, let's talk about the Pod Bay itself.

Why three separate doors, when all open into the same place? Likewise, why depressurize the whole Pod Bay every time a pod enters/exits?

Realistically, there was no reason to even have a pod bay. The pods could have been docked to the ship's hull with an airlock in between, much like a Soyuz capsule attached to the ISS. Having the pods inside Discovery looks good from an aesthetic point-of-view, but from a practical point of view, the pods could/should have been external to Discovery.

 

[DWF]

I have to wonder how they kept pace with the Discovery while Frank Poole was outside changing the AE35 unit.

 

[chardman]

Why do you think they'd be traveling at different speeds? You could simply step out of Discovery, and unless it accelerated or decelerated, you'd travel along right next to it for all eternity. Heck, it's Newton's First Law of Motion.

 

[arch101]

Look at some of the initial reports about EVA activity from the Gemini program - going on at the same time the movie was being made. Working in microgravity is pretty taxing work (just ask Buzz Aldrin). With Discovery so far from Earth, it makes sense to take every possible precaution to protect Astronauts lives. The idea of using the Space Pods to do as much work as possible, saving the Astronaut from having to physically exhaust himself as much as possible, makes perfect sense. It also makes sense that an Astronaut would have to EVA to replace the antenna control box. There are protocols even with the ISS about how close you can maneuver a spacecraft to any other part of the station besides the docking port. A collision between a pod and Discovery, no matter how minor, could be extremely dangerous.

 

[DWF]

Why do you think they'd be traveling at different speeds? You could simply step out of Discovery, and unless it accelerated or decelerated, you'd travel along right next to it for all eternity. Heck, it's Newton's First Law of Motion.

Once the pod leaves the bay it's slowing down relative to the speed of the Discovery.

 

[Silvercrest]

Not unless there are other forces at work. "An object in motion tends to stay in motion", unless something else acts on it. The Discovery wasn't accelerating, and there was no atmosphere. Why would the pod slow down?

 

[DWF]

Not unless there are other forces at work. "An object in motion tends to stay in motion", unless something else acts on it. The Discovery wasn't accelerating, and there was no atmosphere. Why would the pod slow down?

Because there's no force accelerating the pods, they'll start slowing down right away.