LUNARSABER: Powering a Human Presence on the Moon HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2024-07-31 | Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, is developing Lunar Utility Navigation with Advanced Remote Sensing and Autonomous Beaming for Energy Redistribution, also known as LUNARSABER. In July 2024, Honeybee Robotics captured LUNARSABER's capabilities during a demonstration of a scaled prototype.LUNARSABER is a future-forward utility solution for the Moon that combines solar power harvesting, power storage and transfer, communications, PNT, and surveillance into a single infrastructure. Highly adaptable and versatile, LUNARSABER is a 100-meter-tall tower that can generate 100kW of power and carry one metric ton of payloads on the masthead.LUNARSABER will accelerate the rate at which we achieve lunar permanence by establishing a shareable, scalable, resource-driven system that integrates with previously isolated lunar assets, including habitats, rovers, and in-situ resource utilization platforms.For more information, contact Honeybee Robotics at info@honeybeerobotics.com. www.honeybeerobotics.com
Honeybee Robotics Deploys LAMPS in Thermal Vacuum Chamber at NASA Johnson Space Center HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2024-09-16 | NASA’s Vertical Solar Array Technology program continues to make progress after Honeybee Robotics successfully completed thermal vacuum testing of its Lunar Array Mast and Power System (LAMPS) at NASA Johnson Space Center. LAMPS is a vertically oriented energy-harvesting solution, capable of generating up to 10kW of continuous power on the surface of the Moon, enough to generate a day’s worth of energy for a five-bedroom house on Earth. With thermal vacuum testing complete, LAMPS is now TRL 6 ready as a verified prototype system. At 20 meters high, roughly six stories tall, LAMPS utilizes a sail-style deployment for its solar arrays, which rotate and track sunlight. When in the stowed position, LAMPS shrinks to the size of a standard refrigerator to allow for easier transportation. LAMPS incorporates Honeybee’s Deployable Interlocking Actuator Bands for Linear Operations (DIABLO) for its retractable mast and Dust Tolerant Connectors (DTCs) for the adapters to connect lunar assets, such as rovers and habitats, to the power source. Honeybee Robotics recently developed another power system, known as LUNARSABER, using its DIABLO technology. At 100 meters tall, LUNARSABER integrates power, communications, and surveillance into a single infrastructure and uses an origami-style bellow for its solar panels to provide full 360-degree coverage around the mast. Watch this recent video in which Honeybee demonstrates LUNARSABER’s capabilities with a scaled prototype: youtu.be/wvrxEnvLv0I?feature=sharedRead more about LAMPS: honeybeerobotics.com/news-events/honeybee-robotics-deploys-lamps-at-nasa-johnson-space-center
DrACO - The Dragonfly Sample Acquisition and Delivery System for Titan HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2020-01-17 | Honeybee Robotics is developing a sample acquisition and delivery system for Dragonfly, NASA’s next New Frontiers mission, led by Principal Investigator Elizabeth Turtle of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (see more at https://dragonfly.jhuapl.edu/). Dragonfly is a rotorcraft lander that will explore Saturn’s large moon Titan. The sampling system called DrACO (Drill for Acquisition of Complex Organics) will extract material from Titan’s surface and deliver it to DraMS (Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer, provided by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center). Honeybee Robotics will build the end-to-end DrACO system (including hardware, avionics, and flight software) and will command its operation once Dragonfly lands on Titan in 2034.
POCCET: a pneumatic cleaning and excavation system for mini space rovers HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2019-07-29 | Honeybee Robotics has recently developed a regolith excavation and rock cleaning system for NASA JPL’s PUFFER rovers (youtube.com/watch?v=nRmorQmGqVM). This system, called POCCET (PUFFER-Oriented Compact Cleaning and Excavation Tool), uses compressed gas to perform all excavation and cleaning tasks. Weighing less than 300 grams with potential for further mass reduction, POCCET can be used not just on the Moon, but on other Solar System bodies such as asteroids, comets, and even Mars.
Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) P-Sampler Concept HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2019-06-26 | Honeybee Robotics adapted PlanetVac pneumatic sampling technology for a JAXA’s Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission that will return samples from Phobos. The video shows off-nominal condition where the sampling head is 10 cm off the surface. Even with this large gap, PlanetVac met sample mass requirement demonstrating robustness of this technology for sample acquisition and transfer.This work has been funded by NASA under an SBIR Phase III (80NSSC19C0036). PlanetVac sample acquisition and delivery technology has been matured thanks to funding provided by the NASA SBIR, SpaceTech-REDDI, The Planetary Society, and Honeybee IRAD.
SLUSH - The Search for Life Using Submersible Heated drill HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2019-02-15 | Europa is a primary target in the search for past or present life because it is potentially geologically active and likely possesses a deep global ocean in contact with a rocky core underneath its outer ice shell. The Search for Life Using Submersible Heated (SLUSH) drill is a hybrid, thermo-mechanical drill probe. It utilizes a mechanical drill to break the formation, and partially melts the fragments to enable the efficient transport of material behind the probe. Music credit: It Overtakes Me by The Flaming Lips - youtube.com/watch?v=MYxH-VBXLfs For more information about SLUSH, please contact KAZacny@honeybeerobotics.com.
W.I.N.E. The World Is Not Enough HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2019-01-15 | The World Is Not Enough (WINE) is a concept for a new generation of spacecraft that takes advantage of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) to explore space. WINE mines to extract water from planetary regolith, capturing the water as ice in a cold trap and heating it to create steam for propulsion. By propulsively "hopping" from location to location, WINE can explore Solar System bodies as well as individual bodies (e.g. WINE could cover much greater distances on Europa or the Moon than a rover, and can reach otherwise inaccessible regions). And by refueling itself as it goes, WINE's range is not limited by consumables. This makes WINE particularly well suited to prospecting and reconnaissance missions. This video shows a series of tests performed on a proof-of-concept WINE prototype vehicle at Honeybee Robotics. The vehicle demonstrates several of the primary operations that would be required of the WINE spacecraft including: mining and heating regolith to extract water; capturing water as ice in a cold trap; reorienting the vehicle to allow for further mining; pushing captured water into a propulsion tank; and heating propellant to create steam for thrust. All systems demonstrated are fully functional. All tests are conducted with regolith simulant in a vacuum chamber. The WINE prototype was developed by Honeybee Robotics in collaboration with University of Central Florida and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The project was supported by the NASA STTR program. Music by Ross Bugden youtu.be/Bln0BEv5AJ0. For more information about WINE, please contact KAZacny@honeybeerobotics.com.
Spider Water Extractor HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2017-03-02 | Spider Volatile Extractor is a space mining spacecraft that takes advantage of local resources, and in particular water, to refuel. Using local resources to enable space exploration is termed In Situ Resource Utilization or ISRU. Spider legs provide both the anchoring force (extremely important on asteroids) and volatile extraction capabilities through unique design of the auger drill. Spider legs provide surface mobility and steam propulsion (steam derived from mined water) is used for large jumps or interplanetary travel. Spider can be used on any planetary body that has hydrated or free water. This includes Asteroids, Mars, and the Moon.The project is funded by NASA.
Shotgun concept for the NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2015-09-16 | NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) will capture a large boulder from the surface of an asteroid and transport it to a cislunar orbit. One of the mission risks relates to the unknown geotechnical properties and strength of the asteroid regolith and boulder, respectively.The Shotgun system reduces this risk by firing small projectiles (“balls”) at the surface of the asteroid or boulder. If a ball impacts regolith, it will create a crater whose size is a function of regolith strength and density. If a ball impacts a coherent boulder, it will bounce back at a certain speed, whose value is proportional to rock strength. If the rebound speed cannot be measured, hollow balls packed with retroreflectors (similar to paintballs) could be used instead. The shell of such balls can be designed to crack open and release retroreflectors when impacting rock above the threshold strength required for successful boulder retrieval.
Robotic Drilling for Asteroid Sampling and In Situ Resource Utilization HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2014-02-10 | Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corp. partnered with West Virginia University's Robotic Technology Center (WVRTC) to perform a series of robotic drilling procedures in pursuit of advancing autonomous robotic drilling and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies. Both technologies are expected to be heavily leveraged in future space missions involving asteroid capture and human-robotic Lunar and Martian exploration.The video showcases Honeybee's Rancor drill performing core recovery of gypsum and limestone samples when controlled by a 7 degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator located at the WV Robotic Technology Center.More information about the Rancor drill is available at http://www.honeybeerobotics.com/portfolio/rancor-drill/.
PlanetVac - Planetary Sampling System Vacuum Chamber Test HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2013-12-04 | PlanetVac is a new approach to planetary sampling. It is designed to provide space researchers with a simpler, cheaper, more reliable way to gather dirt or regolith (the top layer of material overlying bedrock on a planetary surface) on another planet, on the Moon, or on an asteroid. Developed by Honeybee Robotics with the support of The Planetary Society, PlanetVac is a simple system with no moving parts that gathers regolith into hollow sample tubes placed underneath the lander footpads. A puff of gas directed at the tube's rim and up the tube can effectively move a plug of regolith through the connecting hose and into a sample return container (or into analytical instruments for in-situ analysis). Redundancy is provided by integrating sampling tubes below each lander footpad, so two tubes could fail and the system could still successfully gather samples. PlanetVac could be used to for quick, reliable sampling for sample return, or to on-board instruments, whether it be on Mars, the Moon, or an asteroid.For more information, visit http://honeybeerobotics.com/robotics/sampling//142-planetvac and http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/planetvac/.
LITA - Testing Mars Drills in the Atacama Desert HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2013-11-06 | The LITA Drill is a fully autonomous 10-kg rotary-percussive drill able to penetrate and collect rock and/or soil samples from approximately 1-meter depth. At these depths, cosmic radiation and temperature fluctuations are greatly reduced, making it a more habitable environment for any microbes that may be present.The LITA Drill is the next generation of Honeybee's 1-meter class Icebreaker drill, which has been successfully tested under the low pressures and hostile temperatures found on Mars. Shown here, the drill is deployed from Zoe, a rover built by David Wettergreen's team at Carnegie Mellon University, which is developing autonomous technologies for planetary exploration. The Atacama Desert, one of the driest environments on Earth, provides a Mars analog environment to test for subsurface biological samples.Alternative methods of drill deployment from a lander can include 2- to 4-degree-of-freedom robotic arms. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTNPokiXa0EThe project is supported by the NASA's Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) program.
Mars 2020 - Live Technology Demonstrations HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2013-10-11 | Honeybee Robotics is developing a variety of technologies for drilling, sample acquisition and sample caching for NASA's Mars2020 mission.The proposed Mars2020 architecture uses "one bit one core" caching approach, whereby each rock core sample is acquired with a new bit and subsequently cached with that bit. To help with rock triage -- i.e. the order and priority of assessing and acquiring rock samples -- the drill has a number of unique tools: 1. The Rock Abrasion Brushing Bit (RABBit) for abrading and brushing rocks, similar to Honeybee's Rock Abrasion Tools on the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity;2. The Preview Bit allowing mission scientists to analyze cores along their length;3. The Powder and Regolith Acquisition Bit (PRABit) for acquiring rock powder/regolith for in-situ instruments and for sample return;4. The SLOT bit, which allows observation of the core sample along its length and subsequent caching of that sample with a bit.PRABit can double as rock powder caching bit in cases where rocks are highly friable and cannot be acquired with a core bit (SLOT bit). RABBit could also be used as a regolith or rock powder acquisition and delivery system.More information about Honeybee Robotics' contribution to the Mars Science Laboratory, and the previous NASA Mars exploration missions, is at http://www.honeybeerobotics.com/mechanisms/mars-science-laboratory.
DARPA Phoenix - Honeybee Robotics Prototype Testing and Animation HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2013-10-10 | Honeybee Robotics is developing unique end effectors for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Phoenix mission, which aims to repurpose old communications satellites.Honeybee created two tools for Phase I of the program: 1. The Universal Gripper Anchor (UGA) will be mounted onto the antenna boom of the target satellite by the servicer to create a stable, secure platform for the satlet modules. The UGA provides several electromechanical mounts for a variety of modular satlets to dock and communicate. 2. The Satlet Gripper Tool (SGT) is a new end effector for securing and manipulating the satlets using the servicing satellite's robotic arms. The SGT incorporates a patent-pending omnidirectional electromechanical mounting system that provides multiple channels for the satlets to transmit data and power. This SGT interface will be common to all satlet modules.The Phoenix program aims to demonstrate the feasibility of recycling usable parts of defunct communications satellites in space, thus reducing launch costs and increasing responsiveness. DARPA's goal is to create a robotic servicing satellite that can harvest a working antenna from one of many satellites in the disposal orbit near GEO, then mount new "satlet" nanosatellite modules to the antenna to provide power, communications and controls. The demonstration mission is targeted for 2016.
Honeybee Robotics - Mars 2020 SLOT bit Sample Acquisition and Caching HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2013-09-10 | Honeybee Robotics presents a sample acquisition and caching architecture for the upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission. This approach uses a SLOT bit for acquisition of returnable core samples. The benefit of the SLOT bit provides mission operators to observe and analyze the core sample along its length and estimate its volume. If deemed to be of high scientific value, the SLOT bit with the sample can be deposited in a cache and hermetically sealed.Honeybee Robotics has unmatched experience developing technologies for sample acquisition, caching and processing. This includes key technologies and architectures that could enable Mars Sample Return (MSR) as the core function of a Mars 2020 mission. The company has been designing and building surface drills for MSR since the 1990's, and to date has built and tested 10 different core drilling systems including lightweight drills that can take multiple core samples from a variety of rocks; intelligent drilling systems that provide fault-tolerant operations; and a range of drill bits to capture whole rock cores or just specific samples..The Mars Mission 2020 is intended to investigate the environment on Mars in the context of its habitability and potential for preservation of biosignatures within accessible geologic materials. Mars Sample Return is a long-sought objective to better understand the history and habitability of Mars by bringing cached rock samples back to Earth for analysis.
Honeybee Robotics - HD Mars 2020 Sample Acquisition and Caching Concept HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2013-06-28 | Honeybee Robotics has unmatched experience developing technologies for sample acquisition, caching and processing. This includes key technologies and architectures that could enable Mars Sample Return (MSR) as the core function of a Mars 2020 mission. The company has been designing and building surface drills for MSR since the 1990's, and to date has built and tested 10 different core drilling systems.The Mars Mission 2020 is intended to investigate the environment on Mars in the context of its habitability and potential for preservation of biosignatures within accessible geologic materials. Mars Sample Return is a long-sought objective to better understand the history and habitability of Mars by bringing cached rock samples back to Earth for analysis.Honeybee's expertise in planetary drilling, core sample acquisition, and sample caching provides many viable approaches to a sample return mission. The company's technologies feature lightweight drills that can take multiple core samples from a variety of rocks; intelligent drilling systems that provide fault-tolerant operations; and a range of drill bits to capture whole rock cores or just specific samples.
Honeybee Robotics - Mars 2020 Sample Acquisition and Caching Concept HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2013-06-26 | Honeybee Robotics has unmatched experience developing technologies for sample acquisition, caching and processing. This includes key technologies and architectures that could enable Mars Sample Return (MSR) as the core function of a Mars 2020 mission. The company has been designing and building surface drills for MSR since the 1990's, and to date has built and tested 10 different core drilling systems.The Mars Mission 2020 is intended to investigate the environment on Mars in the context of its habitability and potential for preservation of biosignatures within accessible geologic materials. Mars Sample Return is a long-sought objective to better understand the history and habitability of Mars by bringing cached rock samples back to Earth for analysis.Honeybee's expertise in planetary drilling, core sample acquisition, and sample caching provides many viable approaches to a sample return mission. The company's technologies feature lightweight drills that can take multiple core samples from a variety of rocks; intelligent drilling systems that provide fault-tolerant operations; and a range of drill bits to capture whole rock cores or just specific samples.
Powder Drill from Honeybee Robotics.wmv HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2013-02-06 | The Powder Drill from Honeybee Robotics is a rotary percussive drill designed to collect rock samples for in-situ analysis or sample return missions from Mars. The compact and lightweight system gathers rock dust that can be analyzed to better understand the past climate and geology of our neighbors in the solar system.
Nano Drill from Honeybee Robotics HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2013-02-06 | The Nano Drill is a miniature rotary percussive coring drill designed to acquire rock cores from a rover or planetary lander with very tight volume and mass constraints. The Nano Drill is a simple two-actuator drilling system designed to capture and retain 0.75-cm-diameter cores, ejecting rock cores from the hollow bit using the drill percussive system.
Auto-gopher Wireline Drill Demonstration and Field Test HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2012-12-27 | The Auto-Gopher drill is a wire-line rotary-hammer drill designed for drilling on Mars, the Moon, or the icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter. The depth of penetration is limited only by the length of the wire it is suspended from. This enables drilling at great depths, beyond the reach of traditional or telescoping drill architectures.As shown here, Auto-Gopher drill has been successfully field tested in gypsum, which offers conditions similar to that of water-ice at low temperature. During this 2012 field test, the drill captured 32 cores down to a depth of 3 m, with cores pulled every 10 cm, over the course of 10 hours.The project was funded by the NASA Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) program.
MeSH Automated Sample Preparation System HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2012-06-21 | What happens once our SASSI drill obtains a rock core on Mars? (See how this can be done here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT8q9g_0E04). The core has to be crushed, sieved, and fine powder metered out into cups for analysis by GCMS or other instruments. Our Mechanized Sample Handler (MeSH) is an all-in-one robotic system that does just that! The project was funded by the NASA MIDD program with Jason Herman of Honeybee Robotics as PI.Steps shown in the video:1) Core sample placed in a sample cup2) Crush sample3) View crushed sample4) Gas-jet sieving to less than 150 um5) Dispensing and metering out of all samples6) Discharge of powder and cleaning of the 150 um sieve
Ice Breaker Drill in Action HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2012-06-21 | Check out the lab test of the Ice Breaker drill from Honeybee Robotics, designed as a prototype that one day will fly to Mars and penetrate at least 1 meter into Martian ice and permafrost (that is 1000x deeper than Honeybee-built ISAD drill, rasp, on the 2007 Mars Phoenix mission). The project has been funded by NASA ASTEP and ASTID programs with Chris McKay and Brian Glass as PIs.This demonstration in our Pasadena facility includes five steps:1) Drill sample delivery with 3 degree of freedom arm2) Drilling 45 MPa Indiana Limestone3) Pneumatic sample delivery4) Drill sample delivery5) Re-deployment into the same holeFor more information, visit www.honeybeerobotics.com
Shuttle Enterprise Reaches the Intrepid HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2012-06-06 | A time-lapse video shot from the Honeybee Robotics headquarters shows the Shuttle Enterprise as it's lifted to its new home aboard the Intrepid.
SM-XMR SAM Maiden Flight HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2012-03-14 | Honeybee and amateur rocket master Mike Passaretti's maiden launch of his scratch-built "SM-XMR SAM" rocket. Standing at 8.5 ft tall with a 6" diameter and a whopping 35 lb (pre-fuel) of pure muscle, this rocket will knock your socks off. The moral is don't mess with the Mike. Launch date was March 10, 2012, Higgs Farm - Price, Maryland.
Under the Microscope: Women in Science Interview #1 - Joanna Cohen HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2012-01-23 | In this video interview Honeybee Robotics engineer Joanna Cohen explains why she pursued a career in engineering, how she dealt with being the only girl at times, and why she loves her job. The interview was created and produced by Katie Fitch.Courtesy of Under the Microscope
Mars Sample Return - Core Acquisition and Caching HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2012-01-13 | The movie shows a concept developed at Honeybee Robotics for acquisition of rock core samples for 2018 Mars Sample Return mission. The idea is that each core is stowed in individual core bits upon core acquisition. The system consists of a Mars drill, robotic arm, the cache, and the bit storage box. The bit box contains more bits than the number of required cores (for redundancy). The presented approach simplifies the core acquisition and caching sequence making the mission more robust. The work was performed in collaboration with MDA Robotics who provided robotic arm. The project was funded by NASA via the ASTEP program (PI Dr. Andrew Steele, CI).
@NASA Mars Science Lab - Curiosity Rover Launch - Banana Creek HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2011-11-28 | Credit: Honeybee Robotics - Launch video of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, including the Curiosity Rover. Banana Creek viewing site - Cape Canaveral, Florida November 26, 2011, 0:02am. Honeebee Robotics is responsible for the SAM Sample Manipulation System & turret mounted Dust Removal Tool. Visit: HoneybeeRobotics.com, Twitter: @Honeybee_Ltd
MSL Sample Manipulation System (SMS) HoneybeeRoboticsLtd 2011-06-14 | The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of instruments is integral to the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, which will enable scientists on Earth to remotely examine soil and rock samples for evidence of past and present habitable environments. The SMS plays an integral role in the path of a sample from the Martian surface to the analytical instruments within SAM. The system provides 74 quartz cells for accepting, storing, and delivering the samples to the science suite.More details:SMS http://www.honeybeerobotics.com/product-examples/flight/43-smsSAM http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/Instruments/SAMMSL http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
