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A drop pod is open topped...
The marines disembark from it.

Can they assault that turn?

No, as they have disembarked from a deepstriking vehicle, which prohibits you from assaulting.

Being open topped allows you to assault after having disembarked from a moving vehicle. It does NOT raise any other restrictions on assaulting - for example if you had run in the shooting phase and did not have fleet.

ok I thought I'd missed something critical in a brain-fart moment!

It's also mentioned again in the Drop Pod Assault rules.

As Scott said, the Drop Pod assault rules in every codex (except Dark Angels) also specifically state that the unit disembarking cannot assault. It's not strictly necessary for them to do so, though, as the DS rules in the rulebook make clear that a unit DSing in a transport is arriving on the table by Deep Strike, and are thus ineligible for assault.

This was a big debate a couple of years back when the DA codex came out, because the 4th ed DS rules weren't quite as clear, and the DA Drop Pod Assault rule is missing the extra sentence to make the restriction clear as day.