Donald B. Bickler

Donald B. Bickler was an American mechanical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He is best known for developing the rocker-bogie suspension system, a six-wheeled articulated mobility architecture first used for the Sojourner rover during NASA’s 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission and later adopted for subsequent Mars rovers. His career also included earlier work in solar energy engineering and later work in rover mobility, off-road traction analysis, and wheel technologies.

Education

Bickler earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University in 1956.

Early career

After graduating, Bickler worked in automotive and mechanical systems. While working at Stewart-Warner Corporation he was he was listed as an inventor on a U.S. patent for a gas carbureting apparatus.

By the early 1960s he was working in photovoltaic measurement and solar instrumentation. In 1963, he co-authored Solar Energy Measurement Techniques with Bernd Ross, describing measurement and calibration methods for solar cell performance in aerospace contexts. A 1967 patent lists him as an inventor of a solar radiation simulation apparatus for laboratory testing of photovoltaic devices (commonly referred to as a solar simulator).

Career at Jet Propulsion Laboratory Bickler joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1975.

JPL publications later noted both 30 years of service (as of 2005) and his retirement in October 2017 after 42 years at JPL.

Solar energy engineering During the late 1970s Bickler contributed to JPL solar-energy work associated with U.S. Department of Energy programs. He co-authored a DOE/JPL report summarizing an LSA Project technology development update presented at the 10th Project Integration Meeting (August 1978). In a 1979 JPL report on the SAMICS cost-analysis methodology, the author credited Bickler’s encouragement and insistence on rigorous analysis during early development as important to the methodology’s applicability and validation.

Rover mobility research Early wooden model of Bickler's articulated suspension design. By the late 1980s Bickler was involved in rover mobility studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) during early mission planning for robotic Mars exploration. Contemporary reporting later described experimental rover prototypes developed at JPL using a six-wheel articulated mobility system created by Bickler.

The earliest prototype was an articulated wooden rover model that demonstrated the stability and range of motion of a springless suspension capable of maintaining wheel contact while traversing obstacles larger than a wheel diameter.

Use on Mars rovers

The articulated rocker-bogie suspension was adopted for the rover developed for NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission. The design was first used for the Sojourner rover in 1997 and later formed the basis of mobility systems used on subsequent Mars rover missions.

He also co-authored a NASA Tech Brief describing all-metal tires intended for environments where elastomeric and pneumatic tires would not function (including extreme temperatures).

Awards and honors NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal (1998) for contributions to the Mars Pathfinder rover program.

Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), elected 2006.