AAWSAP DIRD, Cockpits in the Era of Breakthrough Flight, November 2010

This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, dated 1 November 2010 and numbered DIA-08-1011-002, was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office. It is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications program. It draws mainly on the book Frontiers of Propulsion Science and speculates about breakthroughs such as control of gravity and inertia and faster-than-light travel. It then proposes a provisional cockpit design with six-degree-of-freedom controls, virtual displays and no windows.

From the source: Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 11/1/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD examines how cockpit design might change if future aerospace vehicles were ever to achieve major propulsion breakthroughs such as control over gravity and inertia, “propellantless” flight, or faster-than-light travel. The report does not describe an existing or emerging vehicle class. Instead, it asks what such hypothetical capabilities would mean for piloting, displays, controls, and human factors, and it argues that the biggest design challenges would come from full six-degree-of-freedom motion, operation across multiple flight regimes from near-surface flight to orbit and deep space, and the possible separation between the craft’s actual motion and the crew’s internal physical sensations. It combines those assumptions with established human-machine-interface principles and with maturing inputs such as gesture, voice, and brain-machine control to outline a provisional cockpit centered on intuitive displays, stress-tolerant physical controls, and a virtual surround display.

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system that conveys the spacecraft's orientation relative to the external space will have
to be clea r enough to overcome this prejudicial sense of orientation.
Notice, for example, that in almost all science fiction stories, spacecraft move laterally
(forward) relative to the veh icles' internal sense of "up" {Figure 7). Motion along the z
axis is seldom mentioned. Althoug h this is a natural extension of how we move relative
to the surface of the Earth, it is not the only scenario. In contrast, consider a rocket
whose 1-g orientation is aligned with its major axis of motion. Th is is a consequence of
its propulsive thrust. In other words, at least two conventions for direction during deep
space flight are possible : the notion of lateral motion across a landscape (where the
internal 1 g is at right ang les to flight), or vertical motion with an astronomica l range
(where the internal 1 g is coincident with the direction of flight).
Conven iently matching film studio cond itions, the interiors of fictional spacecraft
provide a comfortable 1-g environment for the crew. They also fo ll ow the terrestrial
convention of motion: their major direction of motion is forward (a lateral motion),
even though they are experiencing an acceleration force of 1 g upward (their internal,
synthetic gravity). These two directions, up and forward, are at a right angle. In
contrast, the thrusting direction and the internal g-axis of a rocket are in the same
direction. The choice of orientation for real deep-space motion is a subject for further
study.
FORWARD
(Externally)
Figure 7. Typical Science Fiction Orientations. [Images: A. Szames]
Since propulsion breakthroughs have not yet been discovered, there is no way of
knowing if the propulsion methods themselves will dictate the choice of orientation.
Therefore, to plan for the uncertain future, this is a choice worthy of deeper study. Is
the natural human instinct for forward-dominated motion a better human-machine
interaction than the upward-dominated motion that might be dictated by the propulsion
method? Such an assessment must also consider how well the convention works when
transitioning from deep-space flight into orbit, then landing, and then back again to
deep-space flight. Once any convention is set into place, it will be difficult to change
later.
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