Escape pods are small emergency craft that let a starship's crew abandon a doomed vessel and survive until rescue.
Escape pods line the hulls of Starfleet ships, ready to launch when the order to abandon ship is given. They carry limited life support, emergency rations and distress beacons, allowing survivors to wait for help.
Launch is normally ordered by the captain as part of an evacuation, and crews launch them only in dire circumstances, such as an imminent warp core breach or catastrophic damage. Many encounters with stranded travellers in Starfleet records began with a lone escape pod drifting through space.