Davies' early work was highly classified and included original analyses of materials, payloads, structures, and propulsion systems for missiles and spacecraft.

[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Davies, along with Amrom Harry Katz, were early advocates of the United States' development of balloon and reconnaissance satellite technology (including CORONA).

[22] Although their early work was highly classified, this group of men went on to extraordinary public accomplishments, including a Secretary of Defense, a Nobel Laureate, a president of MIT, recipients of the Presidential Medal of Science, a renowned planetary scientist, and more.

The maps we have of Mercury, Venus, Mars and the satellites of the outer planets are all based on his work in establishing the point of zero longitude or the prime meridian for each object.

)[28][29] He invented the photogrammetric control point technique that provided the basic framework for all planetary surface mapping and coordinates systems of his era.

His fundamental contributions to planetary mapping led to his being the founding chairman of the IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements of the Planets and Satellites in 1976.