David W. Lozier Papers, 1962 - 2008

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Summary

Title:
David W. Lozier Papers
Dates:
1962 - 2008
Creators:
Lozier, David W.
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.
Extent:
Number of digital items: 1032 Volume: 846.4 Megabytes
Language:
English
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].

Background

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.

A container list for this collection is available in a separate document.

LINK TO CONTAINER LIST: ARC1016_lozier_ContainerList.pdf.

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
Biographical / historical:

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

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

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.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
Bibliography:

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.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Guide prepared by Dori Myer
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by Dori Myer. Date of source: February 2022.

Access and use

Restrictions:

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

Terms of access:

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].

Location of this collection:
1243 National City Blvd.
National City, CA 91950, US
Contact:
(619) 470-5800
localhistory@nationalcityca.gov
Website