My Mars Pathfinder computer program (the original 1998 HTML site for the app, back online exactly as it was at the time) was appropriated without my permission and without attribution and used to build the initial Copernicus software program by Cesar Ocampo. It’s almost a given that he used my exact FORTRAN code because it’s impossible to fully optimize the Mars trajectory without using a nonlinear optimization program in less than my 26 pages of code; this was needed to set the initial condition for Copernicus. (The core algorithm is only 8 pages which includes a Runge-Kutta 7/8 integrator. No nonlinear optimization app needed: direct solution every time.)
Conceived to reach Mars safely, Mars Pathfinder became the engine that makes the NASA software application Copernicus work.
In layman’s terms, Ocampo’s training, expertise, papers, and knowledge circa 2000 were traditional orbital mechanics: using the standard methods to optimize trajectories, using nonlinear algorithms. Copernicus is exactly the same: a nonlinear optimization software program. The problem with all such applications is that you need initial conditions: you need a valid solution for the algorithm to work.
On the plus side: The FORTRAN code is my exclusive intellectual property, and I have it here so that anybody can copy and use it (with proper attribution). Hopefully, somebody will use the amazing AI skill with computer code to knock out something better than Copernicus and kick NASA out of the loop.
Forensic Software Analysis
Recently, I gathered all the copyrighted PDF files of my research I did in grad school plus three formal papers that explain the origins, method, and technique of Copernicus as conceived by Ocampo. I fed all 681 pages into an AI and asked it: compare Mars Pathfinder to Copernicus. (The full report.)
Initially, the AI said there were zero similarities between Mars Pathfinder and Copernicus. Copernicus was 100% statistical/nonlinear optimization, and Mars Pathfinder was a direct solution without a nonlinear optimization method. Copernicus uses Three Body topology, whereas Mars Pathfinder isolates only the L1 point to the Earth-Mars 3BP.
This analysis refers to the mature Copernicus application. I refined the question to focus on Ocampo’s initial setup for Copernicus done in 2000-2001 (exactly when I knew him, as my advisor, as the professor who set up my Mars seminar, and who was on the ad hoc committee that mandated my dismissal in December 2001 – exactly when Ocampo was signing a massive grant with NASA for Copernicus development.
The very first test case for Copernicus to get this grant was the final approach to Mars. Ocampo’s entire career to date had been studying the Earth-Moon system. Moreover, he focused on the L1 Lagrange Point; exactly as I had done; and used reverse integration (as Mars Pathfinder does) from the typical mid-course correction back to Earth.
IP Theft or – Worse?
I only discovered Ocampo’s initial Mars solution a few weeks ago. I thought he had stolen my ideas. Even though my Mars methods are extensively copyrighted, from the inception in June 1988 (Ocampo did not arrive at Texas until September 2000); you cannot copyright concepts. Copyrights do apply to the method’s actual mechanics and the code’s flowcharts. AND THE ACTUAL CODE. Those are trade secrets.
I asked a follow-up: Focus on 2001 and the first setup of the Copernicus ecosystem, which used Mars as the test case.
The response of the AI was shocking: Nowhere does Ocampo ever explain, in any paper or historical report over the last 25 years, how he managed to jump-start Copernicus. You cannot use a nonlinear application to start another nonlinear application. You need a rigorous solution.
The AI’s final analysis was very confident: Mars Pathfinder is EXACTLY what Copernicus needs to work – not just Ocampo’s first Mars solution, but every single run of the application for the last 25 years.
Legal Remedies are Nil
I have submitted a formal grievance to the NASA Inspector General’s Office (and officials at UT). This involves theft of trade secrets, violation of academic confidentiality, discrimination against a disabled veteran, misuse of federal grant money, and on and on.
Ocampo was a giant at NASA for 25 years (he passed away 2 years ago). Copernicus has been NASA’s go-to trajectory app that whole time. It won the NASA Software of the Millennium Award a few years ago. More power to him. Awesome. Kudos. Copernicus is a wonderful creation. But if my case is valid and Ocampo used my ideas – at the very time expelling me with malice – well, that’s not a good thing.
Be that as it may, it would be nice to get recognition for my work. But it will never happen.
The Mars Pathfinder Legacy
No matter what Ocampo did or what Copernicus can do, my 26 pages of FORTRAN is a milestone. Nobody will ever create a smaller, more accurate, faster trajectory optimization method. I am happy to give it away here. It’s the only way I will ever get credit for that remarkable program.
Otherwise, all of the official University of Texas documents here explain in excruciating detail the historical basis not only of Mars Pathfinder, but of Copernicus. What more legacy could I hope for?
The basic site is all set up. I will continue adding material. The “SEARCH” isn’t a standard keyword search but uses semantic logic and outputs posts in order of relevance. The “CHAT” has all of the website content embedded to answer your questions. I am working on another CHAT with all 600 pages of my research documents from that era embedded.
William H. Clark II, P.E. (Retired) Texas License #74416 October 12, 2026