The technology and computing power involved in these PODS (Personal Orbital Drop Systems) has always amazed me. From its perch on the Philadelphia in orbit around Earth, the launch computer takes calculations over atmospheric interference, gravity, the movement of the Earth and itself in space, the Earth's tilt, temperature at the target, distance between the launch and target, weather patterns occurring down below, and about a million other things in anticipation of the PODS themselves traveling the path in space, and places anywhere from one to one hundred of the seven-and-a-half foot long, three-foot wide, three-foot tall, single-use units within a hundred yards of the target on the ground. Every time. Doesn't matter if that target zone is directly under Philly in orbit, or clear on the other side of the planet.

The other technological marvel is that the Drop Troopers make it to the ground in the first place. First, there are the stresses placed on the frame and passenger. Up to 15g at launch, and consistent 10g over the rest of the flight. If it weren't for the training and specially designed Drop Trooper armor, the force would be out of action before it made it to the ground. The atmosphere has to be hit in a way that prevents the PODS from bouncing off of it like a stone off the surface of a pond and continuing into space, and assuming that the PODS make it into the atmosphere, it has to be able to survive temperatures approaching 1500º F (about 815º C or 1088K, take your pick). Then there's the radiation shielding to keep soldiers healthy as they come in from space. Then, with the whole thing having survived everything else, it still has to land without killing the soldier inside. To this end, retro-thrusters and velocity-reducing speed flaps bring the entire thing to a speed low enough that shock-absorbing materials inside of the PODS can take care of the rest, and the occupant lives to fulfill the request for reinforcements that had been put in anywhere from five minutes to an hour earlier.

Heaven help us Drop Troopers if even one calculation is off anywhere along the line, from manufacturing to launch.