Documents / Official release
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.
UNCLASSIFIED/ ,'FOR OFFI@IAL WSE QptLY Vehicle Status Panel Below the vector motion panel is the veh icle status panel that conta ins t he most critical vehicle status and controls. This is ana logous to where fuel levels and engine temperatu res would be displayed. In this centra l panel, only the most critical and highest hierarchical status cond itions would be displayed in a fixed format. More detailed, lower-level statuses and controls are on the right side panel and avai lable through the flight-assist system . The proximity of this panel to the survival enunciator, the flight-mode panel, and the emergency response panel is deliberate. Also flanking either side of this vehicle status panel are the cabin controls (on the left) and the communication controls (on the right). Cabin Control Panel The cabin controls are not just for temperature and pressure of the pilot's cabin, but also for the inertial and gravitational environment inside the cabin . This panel is del iberately located just below the section of the surviva l enunciator that displays alarm states for the cabin, and just adjacent to the veh icle status panel, with the expectation that related vehicle functions are displayed near the cabin controls. The novel fu nction of including controls for the internal inertial and gravitational forces is in keeping with the recommendation of the double-hull configuration from Chapter 1. If the pilot wishes to feel a portion of the vehicle's acceleration, that can be dialed in. If the pilot wishes to select a nominal background gravitational field of O g or 1 g (or other options), that can be done, too. Communication Panel The communication panel is the primary selection point for communicating with base. According ly, it is located just below the flight-assist system and the emergency response panel. An alphanumeric key pad serves both the communication panel and the flight-assist system. Available settings would likely include selection of communication methods, channels, and related functions. Further details are dependent upon factors that cannot yet be predicted . Pullout Keyboard For more intensive alphanumeric data entry, and when t ime allows, a pullout computer keyboard is available . External Sensing Panel One of the two side panels flanking the pilot seat is the externa l sensing panel. It includes settings for external sensors, navigation cues, and related functions. It also includes controls for how the information obta ined from the external sensors is processed, displayed, and recorded. UNCLASSIFIED/fFOA: OFFICIO la Plili Oralla¥ 38
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 57 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.