Take a Look

Honeybee Robotics is actively involved in the development of tools and automated systems for use on a variety of planetary bodies. For NASA, we built and continue to operate the Rock Abrasion Tool that landed on Mars early in 2004, and have also developed a number of other shallow and deep planetary drilling systems for Mars exploration. We are also working with NASA on their future plans to explore Venus as well as a return trip to Earth’s moon. Notably, we are an active participant in the Construction & Resource Utilization eXplorer (CRUX), initially slated for exploration of the lunar poles, but also with applications in extreme environments such as on Europa, Titan, and comets. We are developing a deep drilling platform to examine the ocean surface of Jovian moon Europa, and are in the planning process for an upcoming mission to Saturn’s moon, Titan.

Comets and asteroids

Honeybee Robotics is collaborating with NASA centers and various academic institutions to examine the feasibility of collecting samples from the challenging environments of comets and asteroids. These planetary bodies lack the gravitational force necessary for stabilizing landers, so sample acquisition is not a simple maneuver. Honeybee has developed several innovative sampling technologies for use in these environments. Why comets and asteroids? Scientists believe that the pristine nature of comets and asteroids may offer important clues about the beginning of the universe, and they may also contain organic materials that provide the key to how life started on Earth and whether it exists elsewhere.

Earth orbit

Due to volume limitations on launched spacecraft, large space structures must be deployed and/or assembled post-launch. We create the tools that make this possible. We were granted our first contract to develop an end effector for use in space in 1987, and have since completed many more. We have a long standing relationship with the Langley Research Center in Virginia, with whom we have collaborated on an array of truss joints and end effectors to be used for deploying large structures in space. Honeybee developed a technology for a 20-meter, automatically deployable solar dynamic reflector structure. We have also modeled a concept that allows for the automated docking of two unpiloted objects in zero-G.