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Guide to the David W. Lozier Papers
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Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administrative Information
  • Acquisition Information
  • Biographical History
  • Sources Consulted:
  • Indexing Terms
  • Scope and Content
  • Arrangement of the David W. Lozier Papers
  • Processing Information

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: David W. Lozier Papers
    Date (inclusive): 1962 - 2008
    Creator: Lozier, David W.
    Extent: Number of digital items: 1032

    Volume: 846.4 Megabytes
    Repository: Ames Research Center, Ames History Archives
    Moffett Field, California 94035
    Abstract: This collection contains personal papers of David W. Lozier, a retired NASA Ames Research Center computer programmer, engineer, and flight director. This includes personal scrapbooks, recollections, materials related to Pioneer Project missions, Lunar Prospector mission papers, project documents for multiple probe and telescope missions, images related to NASA culture, and work and reference files including mission design and analysis documentation and data, concept studies, proposals, technical papers, and some notes, meeting minutes, correspondence, plans, timelines, schedules, reference documents, press kits, and photographs. Many file directories include trajectory plots, analyses, and related data.
    Language: English

    Administrative Information

    Access

    Collection is open for research. Portions may be subject to restrictions.

    Publication Rights

    Copyright does not apply to United States government records. For non-government material, researcher must contact the original creator.

    Preferred Citation

    NASA Ames History Archives, NASA Ames Research Center. Moffett Field, California. ARC10.16, David W. Lozier Papers, [Container number]: [Folder number]. [Identification of item]. [Date, if available].

    Abbreviated Citation

    NASA ARC. ARC10.16, [Container number]: [Folder number]. [Identification of item]. [Date, if available].

    Separated Material

    The following items were removed from the collection:
    • Published data, general manuals, general computer program appliances, UNIX executable files, corrupted files, duplicates, and drafts.

    Removed or Separated Material

    Selected publications unrelated to Lozier's work were removed:
    • Copies of Ames Astrogram newsletters (1959-1999)
    • "Fortran and the Space Program." Lahey Computer Systems, Inc. http://www.lahey.com/#contents
    • Clark, Arthur C. "Exra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?" Wireless World. (October 1945): 305-308
    • Clarke, Victor C., Jr. "Design of Lunar and Interplanetary Ascent Trajectories." Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, CA. (JPL Technical Report No. 32-30 Revision No. 1), 1962.
    • Doody, David and Diane Fisher. "Basics of Spaceflight: A Paper Version of the http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics Interactive Online Tutorial." Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. (JPL D-20120), May 2001.
    • Turyshev, Slava G. "The Pioneer Anomaly: Effect, New Data and New Investigation." Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. (TPS 20080417), April 13, 2008. American Physical Society Meeting, St. Louis, Missouri.

    Related Collections

    AFS1380.39A: Ames Astrogram, 1958-2020
    AFS8000.5-LP: Lunar Prospector Project Records, 1995-1998
    AFS8100.15A: Pioneer Project Records, 1952-1996

    Acquisition Information

    Donated by David W. Lozier on July 7, 2010 (Accession 2010-016).

    Biographical History

    Born in Olympia Washington in 1943, David Lozier was recruited by NASA Ames in 1965 as he was graduating from Washington State University with a degree in mathematics. He was hired as a civil servant in 1966 to work on the Pioneer Project. Pioneer 6 had launched, but the project needed a computer programmer to debug and finish trajectory codes, which was Lozier’s first role at NASA. His career at Ames spanned 38 years, ending with his retirement in 2005. Proud of his work, he collected articles, excerpts, photographs, and ephemera relating to each of his projects and others that interested him, with an eye toward detailing his legacy.
    Lozier worked on Pioneer Project missions 6, 7, 8, 9, E, 10, 11, 12, and 13 sending four spacecraft around the Sun, two to Jupiter and Saturn, a Venus orbiter that lasted 14 years, and four probes into the atmosphere of Venus (collectively known as Pioneer Venus). The Pioneer Projects focused mostly on interplanetary space probe exploration. Pioneers 6, 7, 8, 9 and E (1965-1968) were created to make the first comprehensive measurements of the solar wind, solar magnetic field and cosmic rays. Pioneers 10 (1973) and 11 (1979) were the first to leave the solar system. Add something about Pioneer Venus? Lozier eventually became Flight Director for the Pioneer Program and received many honors and awards for his work on that project and others.
    He also worked in mission design for the Lunar Prospector, which was selected by NASA in 1995 as the first of NASA's Discovery Missions, with the primary goal of mapping the surface of the Moon.
    Lozier’s involvement with trajectories sparked his interest in various NASA studies that he didn’t work directly on, including Mars missions, Galileo, Cassini, and other projects that required trajectory analysis. By the end of his career, his specialties included mission analysis and planning, systems engineering, and mission flight design. His technical publications relating to these specialties included several papers published by AIAA regarding Lunar Prospector mission design, Pioneer Venus, and various papers presented at conferences.
    Lozier described himself as follows: "I enjoy travel, reading, hiking and fishing. I like explaining celestial mechanics, trajectories, orbits, and launch rockets to students and people that ask me questions about NASA. I consider myself a rocket man, and a celestial mechanic."
    A full list of his roles follows:
    1998 to 2005: Ames Research Center, Mission Design Engineer, Advanced Missions Branch
    1995 to 1998: Ames Research Center, Trajectory Team Leader, Lunar Prospector Mission
    1989 to 1997: Ames Research Center, Flight Director, Pioneer Project
    1984 to 1989: Ames Research Center, Assistant Flight Director, Pioneer Project
    1983 to 1984: Lewis Research Center, Mission Design Engineer, Shuttle Centaur Project
    1982 to 1983: Ames Research Center, Flight Operations Planning Engineer, Galileo Probe Mission
    1980 to 1982: Ames Research Center, Mission Design Engineer, Space Operations Office
    1979 to 1980: Ames Research Center, Geobased Information Systems Project Manager, Remote Sensing and IR Imaging Technology Utilization branch
    1976 to 1979: Ames Research Center, Mission Analysis and Midcourse Maneuver Operations Planning Engineer, Pioneer Venus Orbiter and Multiprobe Project
    1966 to 1976: Ames Research Center, Payload Integration and Launch Operations Engineer, Pioneer 6-9 and Pioneer 10/11 Projects

    Sources Consulted:

    NASA Ames History Archives, NASA Ames Research Center. Moffett Field, California. ARC10.16, David W. Lozier Papers, 1 : 1. Biography: David W. Lozier AKA Rocket Man (DWL_CV_bio.pdf). 2002.
    NASA Ames History Archives, NASA Ames Research Center. Moffett Field, California. ARC10.16, David W. Lozier Papers, 1 : 1. David W. Lozier Business Card (DWL_color4_retired_Redacted.pdf). 2005.

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms may be used to index this collection.

    Corporate Name

    Ames Research Center

    Personal Name

    Lozier, David W.

    Subjects

    2001 Mars Odyssey
    Astrobiology Explorer (Spacecraft)
    Astronautics
    Beagle Aircraft
    Celestial Mechanics
    Evening Star Mission
    New Frontiers Program
    Full-sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer (Spacecraft)
    Genesis Mission
    Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter Low-Thrust Propulsion System
    Kepler Mission
    Lunar Exploration
    Lunar Prospector (Spacecraft)
    Mars Exploration
    Mars Exploration Rover Mission (U.S.)
    Mars Express
    Mars Global Surveyor
    Moon--Exploration
    Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous
    New Full-Sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer
    Outer space--Exploration
    Pascal Mars Climate Network Mission
    Pioneer 6 Space Probe
    Pioneer 7 Space Probe
    Pioneer 8 Space Probe
    Pioneer 9 Space Probe
    Pioneer 10 Space Probe
    Pioneer 11 Space Probe
    Pioneer F (Spacecraft)
    Pioneer G (Spacecraft)
    Pioneer Project
    Pioneer Venus Spacecraft
    Planets--Exploration
    Polar Night Mission
    STEREO (Observatory)
    Space Probes
    Space Trajectories
    Trajectory Analysis
    Trajectory Planning
    Venus Surface and Atmosphere Geochemical Explorer (Spacecraft)
    Victoria Mission

    Scope and Content

    This collection comprises nearly forty years of David Lozier's career at NASA Ames, primarily concerning spacecraft trajectory calculation work on various missions within the solar system, starting with the Pioneer 6-9 missions. The collection contains scans and born digital files including photographs; scrapbooks; technical papers; recollections; clippings; correspondence; advisement on an external Pioneer website; mission management documentation and trajectory and other technical data for various missions, including the Pioneers, Lunar Prospector, Mars 2001 Odyssey, Kepler, and others. The born digitial content was created in the 1990s through 2008, while the bulk of the scans are digital copies of items from the 1960s through the 1980s.

    Note

    A container list for this collection is available in a separate document.
    LINK TO CONTAINER LIST: ARC1016_lozier_ContainerList.pdf .

    Note

    Acronym List
    ABE> Astrobiology Explorer
    ARC Ames Research Center
    ASTP Advanced Space Technology Program
    DSN Deep Space Network
    FAME Full-Sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer
    GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center
    ICD Interface Control Document
    JIMO Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter Low-Thrust Propulsion System
    LDD Long Day's Drive
    LOI Lunar Orbit Insertion
    LP Lunar Prospector
    MCC Midcourse Correction
    MGS Mars Global Surveyor
    PN Pioneer Project
    OD Orbit Determinationm
    SAGE Venus Surface and Atmosphere Geochemical Explorer
    STEREO Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory
    TCM Trim Correction Maneuvers
    TDRSS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System
    TLI Translunar Insertion

    Arrangement of the David W. Lozier Papers

    This collection is arranged in two series.
    • Series I: Scrapbooks and Personal Papers, 1962-2008
    • Series II: NASA Work, 1996-2007
    The creator's original order was retained for the bulk of the collection.

    Processing Information

    Digital files were imaged from a DVD-R disk during processing. Unstable file formats were reformatted to stable, widely-adopted formats such as PDF. Nonconforming characters and spaces were removed from filenames.