Honeybee Robotics

History

Honeybee Robotics was founded in January 1983 by Steve Gorevan and Chris Chapman as a systems integrator using off-the-shelf robots. The company's first offices were above a piano shop on the Lower East Side of New York City. Their early work included robotic arms, robot end-effectors, and smart task-oriented electromechanical systems for companies including IBM, Allied Signal, The Salk Institute, Merck, 3M, and Con Edison. Honeybee Robotics received its first NASA contract in 1986 and continues to receive contracts to design and develop space systems.

Honeybee Robotics was acquired by Ensign-Bickford Industries in 2017. In 2018, Avior Control Technologies was acquired by Ensign-Bickford Industries, which then merged Avior with Honeybee in 2019. Avior had been founded in 2010 by Scott Starin to design and manufacture motion-control components including custom motors, gearboxes, dampers, transducers, and actuators for the space, aerospace, and down-hole industries. In January 2022, Honeybee Robotics was sold to Blue Origin.

In February 2023, the company shipped the Phobos Mining System to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and has also partnered with NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to study the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos.

On May 19, 2023, Honeybee Robotics' parent company, Blue Origin, won a $3.4 Billion contract to build a Moon lander and additional spacecraft for NASA's Artemis program. The team, led by Blue Origin, is a partnership between Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics.

Products

• The Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) instruments used on both Mars Exploration Rovers
• The Icy Soil Acquisition Device (ISAD), sometimes called the "Phoenix Scoop", a soil scoop and a precision ice-sampling tool successfully demonstrated on the 2008 Mars Phoenix Lander mission
• The Sample Manipulation System and Dust Removal Tool used on the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which landed in August 2012 The company is now helping design instruments for NASA's VIPER rover.

Honeybee Robotics develops systems for future planet missions that will explore the Solar System including Mars, Venus, the Moon, two Jovian moons, an asteroid, and a comet among others. The company has partnered with Bigelow Aerospace to develop a preliminary design for a solar array deployment mechanism that was used on the solar arrays of Bigelow's Genesis inflatable space habitat. Terrestrial projects include developing mechanisms, installations, and systems for a broad array of clients including Con Edison, the U.S. Navy, Coca-Cola, Nike, and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

In December, 2022, NASA awarded Honeybee Robotics a contract to provide several systems for the upcoming Mars Sample Return mission. These include the Capture, Containment, and Retrieval System (CCRS), Earth Entry System (EES), and Spin Eject Mechanism (SEM).

References

References

1. "Honeybee Robotics wins NASA contract for Mars Sample Return System – Honeybee Robotics".
2. Adkins, Jamie. (2022-11-22). "NASA Awards Contract for Mars Sample Return Systems".
3. LaBerge, Gene L.. (1988). "Exploration drill cores in the Wisconsin magmatic terrane". Open-File Report.
4. "Locations". Honeybee Robotics.
5. "Honeybee Robotics Company Profile: Acquisition & Investors {{!}} PitchBook".
6. O’Shea, Claire. (2023-05-19). "NASA Selects Blue Origin as Second Artemis Lunar Lander Provider".
7. "SLD National Team".
8. "Honeybee Robotics - Wiki".
9. "History – Honeybee Robotics".
10. (2022-01-25). "Honeybee Robotics to Join Blue Origin".
11. (2021-04-07). "Pneumatic Sampler (P-Sampler) for the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX)". Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
12. "Honeybee Robotics Ships Phobos Mining System to JAXA".
13. "SLD National Team".
14. (7 February 2004). "Touch and Go Days - Astrobiology Magazine".
15. "Sample Processing, Manipulation & Containment".
16. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090320130508/http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/Instruments/SAM/ NASA.gov] {{PD-notice
17. (2023-11-03). "Watch NASA Build Its First Robotic Moon Rover - NASA".
18. K. Zacny, G. Paulsen, K. Davis, E. Mumm, and S. Gorevan, [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/captem/msr2008/presentations/Zacny.pdf Honeybee Robotics Planetary Sample Acquisition, Transfer and Processing Technologies], presented at Mars Sample Return 2008, Lunar and Planetary Science Institute
19. Derek Sears, Carl Allen, Dan Britt, [[Donald E. Brownlee. Don Brownlee]], Melissa Franzen, Leon Gefert, Stephen Gorovan, Carle Pieters, Jeffrey Preble, Dan Scheeres and Ed Scott, "The Hera mission: multiple near-earth asteroid sample return" ''Advances in Space Research, Volume 34'' Issue 11, 2004, pp. 2270-2275 {{doi. 10.1016/j.asr.2003.05.059
20. S. Gorevan, I. Yachbes, P. Bartlett, K.Zacny, G. L. Paulsen, T. Kennedy, B. Basso, and J. Wilson, "[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/recon2006/pdf/3022.pdf Comet and Asteroid Sample Acquisition, Containerization, and Transfer for Sample Return]" presented at ''Spacecraft Reconnaissance of Asteroid and Comet Interiors'' (2006)
21. "Our mission". Honeybee Robotics.
22. Adkins, Jamie. (2022-11-22). "NASA Awards Contract for Mars Sample Return Systems".