Several months ago, when first planning the expedition, it's explained that the launcher sends out the pods several days/weeks before they leave. Since they're accelerating with ships drive they'll eventually catch up to pods, resupply, and consume them. This supply launch is a large part of their initial investment in the trip, getting the fuel in place for them to be able to make the trip. That's what Florence is talking about in
this strip. I didn't keep searching for the full explanation as it's even further back.
EDIT NVM here it is, only 200 ish strip ago.
http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3200/fc03192.htm