Case study in system of systems engineering: NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite

System of systems (SoS) systems engineering (SE) (SoSE) has become an important and popular topic during the past several years. Those familiar with the concepts and principles of complex SE (CSE) and Enterprise SE (ESE) recognize that SoSE engineering comprise special instances. All these forms of SE can be usefully illuminated by cogent case studies. Unfortunately, technology still seems to be the primary focus in many SE efforts, particularly those involving SoSs. This was true during NASA's past Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) program. The goal of this case study is to show how well some non-technologically-focused CSE and ESE ideas worked on the ACTS program, even then.