David Richard Williams

Research

Archiving and preservation of lunar and planetary data. Recovery and restoration of Apollo-era lunar data. Analyses of Apollo Dust, Thermal, Environmental Monitors, Lunar Atmospheric Composition Experiment, Lunar Ejecta and Meteorite Experiment, Heat Flow Experiment. Coordinated Science on a Sphere educational presentation "The Wanderers", Moon Trees outreach effort. Planetary and lunar geophysics, formation and evolution of asteroids, and the size distribution of asteroid populations.

Positions and Appointments

Acting Head, NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Planetary Scientist, Planetary Data System Management Office

Education

B.S., Geophysics, 1980, State University of New York at Binghamton
Ph.D., Geophysics and Space Physics, 1987, University of California at Los Angeles

Selected Publications

Killen, R.M., D.R. Williams, J. Park, O.J. Tucker, S-J. Kim, The lunar neon exosphere seen in LACE data, Icarus, 246-250, [10.1016/j.icarus.2019.04.018], 2019.

Williams, D.R., H.K. Hills, P.T. Taylor, S. Nagihara, Y. Nakamura, W. Kiefer, S.A. McLaughlin, P. Chi, and E.A. Guinness, The Apollo Surface Experiment Packages: 50 years of science and counting, abstract, Lunar Plan. Sci. Conf. 50, 1122, 2019

Nagihara, S., W.S. Kiefer, P.T. Taylor. D.R. Williams, and Y. Nakamura. Examination of the long-term subsurface warming observed at the Apollo 15 and 17 sites utilizing the newly restored heat flow experiment data from 1975 to 1977, J. Geophys. Res.: Planets, [10.1029/2018je005579], 2018.

Williams, D.R., H.K. Hills, P.T. Taylor, E.J. Grayzeck, and E.A. Guinness, Restoration of Apollo Data by the Lunar Data Project / PDS Lunar Data Node: An Update, Abstract, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 47, 2016.

Nakamura, Y., S. Nagihara, and D. Williams, Importance of preserving raw data, Abstract, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, 2015.

Amato, M., and D. Williams, Accessing the Venus Lower Atmosphere and Surface- from Venera and Pioneer Venus to VISE and VITaL, in Inner Solar System - Prospective Energy and Resources, Ed. by V. Badescu and K. Zacny, Springer, 2015.

S. Nagihara, Y. Nakamura, P. T. Taylor, D. R. Williams, Restoration of 1975 Apollo Heat Flow Experiment Thermocouple Data from the Original ALSEP Archival Tapes, Abstract, Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, 2015.

D.R. Williams, H.K. Hills, P.T. Taylor, E.J. Grayzeck, and E.A. Guinness, Status of the Restoration of Apollo Data by the Lunar Data Project / PDS Lunar Data Node, Abstract, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 46, 2015.

P.A. Berman and D.R. Williams, Shadowing on Apollo 12 Solar Cells and Possible Movement of the ALSEP Central Station, Abstract, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 45, 2014.

McBride, M.J., D.R. Williams, H.K. Hills, and N. Turner, First-Time Analysis of Completely Restored DTREM Instrument Data from Apollo 14 and 15, Abstract, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 44, 2013.

Lewis, L.R., Y. Nakamura, S. Nagihara, D.R. Williams, P. Chi, P.T. Taylor, G.K. Schmidt, and E.J. Grayzeck, NLSI Focus Group on missing ALSEP data recovery: Progress and plans, Abstract, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 42, 1620, 2011.

Glavin, D.P., J.P. Dworkin, M. Lupisella, D.R. Williams, G. Kminek, and J.D. Rummel, In situ biological contamination studies of the Moon: Implications for planetary protection and life detection missions, Earth, Moon, and Planets, DOI: 10.1007/s11038-010-9361-4, 2010.


Selected Restored Data Sets

Nagihara, S., Y. Nakamura, D.R. Williams, S.A. McLaughlin, Apollo 17 ALSEP ARCSAV Heat Flow Experiment Calibrated Gradient Bridge Temperatures Document Collection (1975-092 to 1975-181) V1.7.0.0, URN-NASA-PDS-A17HFE-CALIBRATED-ARCSAV-V1.7.0.0, 2018.

Williams, D.R., S.A. McLaughlin, Apollo 17 Far-Ultraviolet Spectrometer (FUVS) Data Graphs Bundle V1.7.0.0, URN-NASA-PDS-A17FUVS-V1.7.0.0, 2017

Langseth, M. G. S., Jr., S. J. Keihm, J. L. Chute, Jr., H. K. Hills, and D. R. Williams, Apollo 17 Heat Flow Thermal Conductivity RDR subsampled V1.0, A17A-L-HFE-3-THERMAL-CONDUCTIVITY-V1.0, NASA Planetary Data System, 2014.

Talwani, M., S. W. Buck, G. Mamon, D. Williams, Apollo 17 Traverse Gravimeter Data V1.0, A17L-L-TG-2-TRAVERSE-GRAVITY-V1.0, NASA Planetary Data System, 2011.

Snyder, C.W., Neugebauer, M.M, D.R. Clay, D.R. Williams, and H.K. Hills. Apollo 12 ALSEP/SWS solar wind 28-sec resolution tables V1.0, A12A-L-SWS-3-SOLAR-WIND-28S-RES-V1.0, NASA Planetary Data System, 2008

Johnson, F.S. and D.R. Williams, Apollo 15 ALSEP/CCIG Reduced Atmospheric Density Plots V1.0, A15A-L-CCIG-3-ATMOS-DENSITY-PLOTS-V1.0, NASA Planetary Data System, 2007.

Levin, G. V., P. A. Straat, E. A. Guinness, P. G. Valko, J. H. King, and D. R. Williams, "Viking Lander Labeled Release Data Archive", NASA Planetary Data System, VL1/VL2-M-LR-2-EDR-V1.0, 2001.