Beyond Earth (ATWG) - Chapter 1 - The Aerospace Technology Working Group by Kenneth J. Cox
From The Space Library
Chapter 1
The Aerospace Technology Working Group
We search for ways to connect our dreams to the reality of the present and the promise of the future.
The Aerospace Technology Working Group, ATWG (or as it was called at that time, SATWG), was conceived at NASA in 1989 and formed in 1990. It is an affiliation of world class thinkers, space scientists, engineers, academics, business consultants, environmentalists and authors whose mission is to support global collaboration and action for the development of space science, space commerce, and permanent space habitats. Its members have many hundreds of years of combined experience in space science, and widespread personal networks that permit synergy and opportunity to emerge across national boundaries.
From a philosophical perspective, ATWG members consider Earth, Space and Humanity as a single integrated system. The organization provides input to NASA officials and other space interests on such issues as energy and power sources available from both Earth and space, integral investment strategies for the future, technical development strategies in space science, and system and mission design. It also works to develop innovative approaches to bureaucratic and governance processes that would otherwise undermine progress on major initiatives.
ATWG helps leaders formulate and execute breakthrough projects that require unprecedented collaborative teaming, projects that must be accomplished through the involvement of other individuals, agencies, companies, and nations. We view these projects as learning laboratories for discovering and developing the depth of leadership, teamwork, and management necessary for breakthrough outcomes.
Since the beginning we have been dedicated to the principles of collaboration, teamwork, learning, and the positive uses of space for the benefit of all humanity, and we continue in that spirit today. ATWG has held 33 biannual meetings without fail since it was established, and numbers 34 and 35 will occur this year, 2006. (1)
This chapter briefly tells the story of ATWG, emphasizing an overview of our vision, values, and aspirations.
I was appointed to head ATWG as a 25-year NASA veteran, and although I have subsequently retired from NASA I continue to lead this organization of extraordinary individuals, many of whom have conspired to create this book.
But the roots of ATWG began to take root much earlier. As a young NASA engineer who had already worked five years in the Apollo program, I was part of the team that helped bring Apollo 13 back to Earth safely after one of its oxygen tanks exploded in the command module en route to the moon in April 1970. In those moments of tension and uncertainty I learned what men and women can do when they are filled with courage, humanity, and purpose.
This was a pivotal experience for me, and for many others at NASA, and it remains with me always. In fact, it led me twenty years later to the formation of the ATWG, the Aerospace Technology Working Group, to promote the future of humans in space. It was collaboration, intensity, action, and the integration of science and spirit that brought the Apollo 13 astronauts back safely, just as these same qualities were the foundation of all of NASA's successful Apollo missions, and indeed they contribute to the best that human civilization has ever accomplished across the millennia.
These qualities are also the genesis of this book, Beyond Earth: The Future of Humans in Space, and the qualities that the many authors of this book wish to evoke in our future space endeavors, the quest for the permanent human settlement of space.
Accomplishments and Challenges
Three key phenomena of the last 60 years that significantly influenced the subsequent course of human society are the science and technology methodologies and artifacts that were achieved during and since World War II, digital computing and the information age, which is also one of those war outcomes, and the Apollo era with humans traveling to and returning from Outer Space that built on both prior trends.
The challenge today that is faced by every space faring nation, and indeed by all of humanity, is to complete the inspired possibility of Apollo by establishing permanent human habitats in Space. This will assuredly happen, but knowing that we are still left with huge relevant questions that need to be asked involving Why? How? and When? The challenges are immense. In Chapter 5 of this book Yehezkel Dror states them most eloquently. "The repercussions of moving into space are largely inconceivable, efforts to predict them on the basis of a very different past being extremely doubtful." "Bureaucracies, as correctly understood, are essential for large scale human action, whether by business or governance. The correct question, therefore, is not how to reduce the roles of bureaucracy, but how to change core features of bureaucracy so as to make them fit the requirements of a new epoch including human movement into space." "No single country, including the USA, has the material, scientific and technological, human and political resources for moving humanity into space." "......unless undertaken by strong global governance, human movement into space is sure to involve conflictive action, including militarization, with dismal consequences." "De facto global governance dominated by the USA in cooperation with other willing major states may do the job while being more feasible in the foreseeable future. But, however structured, without strong global governance, human settlement of space has no chance."
ATWG has been my personal journey from Apollo to the challenges and immense opportunities we face today. On this journey, I have come to see that our future in space, as well as our future as a species here on Earth, requires that we balance our interest in science and technology with our commitment and compassion for humanity. We cannot explore outer space without exploring inner space at the same time.
ATWG's History
ATWG began this way: In the summer of 1989 NASA Administrator Richard Truly decided to establish an Advanced Development Planning Group to encourage collaboration between the NASA Operation field centers and the NASA Research field centers in the area of technology readiness and operational development. Six different working groups were considered - operations, avionics, entry, propulsion, power, and structures. All six related directly to the mission operation and design of flight vehicles. Also identified as important were the areas of pre-launch payload operations, launch and tracking operations, and landing/turnaround operations.
The topic of Avionics includes analog and digital computer hardware, operational and application driven software, actuators, sensors, communication and tracking systems, power, and multiple connecting devices. An early collaborative effort was the Space Transportation Avionics Technology Symposium held in Williamsburg, Virginia November 7-9, 1989. The results are documented in NASA Conference Publication #3081 in 1990. (2) The success at this Symposium led to the formation of the Strategic Avionics Technology Working Group (SATWG) in January 1990.
The initial themes for SATWG were focused on science, technology and engineering, particularly on cost reduction, flight capability enhancement, reliability and safety, and operations efficiency for the Space Shuttle. Some specific areas included eliminating hydraulics, automated rendezvous and docking, operationally efficient payloads, and vehicle health management.
The first official SATWG meeting was hosted by General Dynamics in San Diego in November 1990, and the second was hosted by Boeing in Seattle in February 1991. During this time period, sixteen small SATWG seed studies were developed in avionics requirements, architecture, process improvement, technology transition, vehicle health management, technology and guidance, navigation, and control technology. The goal of these studies was to provide "technology bridging" between the technology developers, the system integrators, and the operational users, who had previously been working in separate silos with insufficient contact between them.
In late 1991, a SATWG Industry Group was formed to enhance the collaborative efforts, and the positive result was that new paradigms were developed that emphasized "doing business" rather than "doing government." This included quality function techniques and Integrated Product Teams.
In a collaborative process initiative, a list of ten top challenges was developed. These challenge items included operability, affordability, dependability, suitability, management cultural change, multi-program initiatives, concurrent engineering techniques, incentives, innovations, partnering and networking. We made progress slowly, and while the industry participants sincerely attempted to utilize the results of these initiatives, their ability to effectively collaborate within competitive boundaries was not well developed. On the public sector side, bureaucratic inefficiencies in both the federal government and academia hampered our ability to put solutions into effect.
In 1993 the focus turned to enterprise integration, team USA, and global space commerce. Ten major trends were identified, including the end of the cold war, global concept development, a constrained fiscal environment, public and private sector relationship shifts, planetary sustainability issues, expansion of information systems, phasing "cold warriors" into "trade warriors", space commercial market development, international space cooperation, and international space competition. (3)
We worked on these topics, and many others, in the framework of the ATWG Forum meetings and between meetings in small working teams, often informal and self-organized.
During this period, we had a direct experience of bureaucratic meddling, as pressure from NASA headquarters impacted us directly when someone in the hierarchy insisted that we forgo the "strategic" designation in our name or our funding would be decreased. We had more interest in doing the work than retaining the label, so we readily complied, and thus SATWG (Strategic Avionics Technology Working Group) became ATWG (Aerospace Technology Working Group).
As the years of dedicated work by many extraordinary men and women unfolded, I began to develop an uneasy feeling. I observed that the amount of action leading to results was minimal even though the quality of the thinking was very good, and significant time was being invested. I saw that bureaucratic and governance processes often undermined real progress, and often the distinction between lip service and genuine commitment was lost.
Thus, our list of issues and topics continues to be valuable today, but now we need to move beyond just ideas on how to improve or add to the overall top ten challenges, and put the emphasis on taking real action on the affordable and sustainable development of space.
By the late 1990s I also came to see that the future of space justifiably belonged to people all over the world and not only the strongest nations. I realized that if we keep heading in the direction we are going, we will likely end up with "Star Wars" rather than a "United Federation of Planets," with space as a venue of conflict rather than one of peaceful development for the benefit of all. And I came to see that global cooperation for the future of space could serve humanity, but only if a 100 percent individual and collective commitment to action was present could we bring our grand visions into reality.
Looking Ahead
I am now convinced that that Earth, Outer Space and all Life must be considered as integrated elements that comprise the actual system in the Universe. The underlying questions of our situation today concern our ability to learn, our wisdom and awareness, and the actionable processes needed to shape the future of human civilization. We may not succeed, but a growing group of us believe it is irresponsible not to try.
Thus, I want this book to help inspire people all over the world to provide the necessary leadership and commitment to attain shared visions for space, even as this must occur within today's diverse and turbulent environments. Our challenge is to adapt to increasing chaos and complexity in order to develop mature relationships, and to identify and understand the significant patterns that lead to positive change.
The important attributes and characteristics to cultivate have primarily to do with our own inner capabilities. These include: 1) integrity, congruence, and discipline, 2) adapting, unifying, sharing and risk taking, and 3) listening, looking, intuiting and reflecting. We see, thus, that the necessary change occurs within ourselves first, and that we build upon our inner awareness to manifest positive change through the thoughtful application of science and technology.
It's been a long way around to reach this understanding, but as you will see in the chapters that follow, there is an astonishing consistency in the recognition that our inner qualities are as important to the foundation upon which a space program of unprecedented complexity must rely as our technical and managerial capabilities. Remember, many of these authors are accomplished rocket scientists!
The members of ATWG are committed to helping transform the space programs of every space faring nation into an Earth/space movement that integrates permanent settlements with personal adventure, science, commerce, ecology, and holistic well being for everyone and everything on the Earth.
The prospect of humans living permanently in the barren environment of Outer Space carries with it many uncertainties. However, there is a meaningful possibility that humans may design our own evolution, as John Stewart suggests in Chapter 22, and that new collaborative endeavors, together with new unfolding evolutionary insights and new science and technology breakthroughs will excite the heroic qualities in all humans. If this happens, it will be because the "inner warriors" in all of us remain committed to attaining the best possible outcomes for all the world's peoples.
The intellectual energy and insight created by our networking to develop this Beyond Earth: The Future of Humans in Space book has provided a catalyst for us to broaden the traditional scope of ATWG by adding to its projects:
"The Space & Earth Development Alliance (SEDA)"
This unfolding Alliance concept was first formulated in early spring of 2006 and will focus on the global themes and concepts captured in Beyond Earth. It will be an international umbrella activity to foster the improvement of all life on earth through capabilities generated by the future of humans in space.
Let me close this first chapter by expressing my deep appreciation to the many hundreds of individuals who have committed their time, energy, and insights to AWTG activities over these many years, and to the individuals who have participated in the extraordinary project to produce this remarkable book. This book expresses our shared commitment to achieving the wonderful possibilities that a focused space program may achieve for the benefit of all of humanity, and you can be sure that as ATWG goes forward, this intent is as clearly held in our minds as it is the goal of our actions. We hope you will join with us in this remarkable endeavor!
You can learn more about ATWG at www.atwg.org. Many ATWG Forum meetings are open to the public.
- (1) A complete list of the ATWG meetings, themes, and locations is presented in Appendix B.
- (2) Space Transportation Avionics Technology Symposium, Williamsburg, Virginia, NASA Conference Publication 3081, NASA 1990.
- (3) For more detail on ATWG in the 1990s, see Robbie E. Davis-Floyd, "Commercializing Outer Space: The SATWG Stories." Late Editions VII, Para-Sites: A Casebook against Cynical Reason, George Marcus ed. University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Extracted from the book Beyond Earth - The Future of Humans in Space edited by Bob Krone ©2006 Apogee Books ISBN 978-1-894959-41-4
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