{"id":"d16ba279-d04f-458b-bb19-40ef08a4abcd","name":"Honeybee Robotics","slug":"honeybee-robotics","description":"Honeybee Robotics, LLC is an American space robotics company headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, with additional facilities in Altadena, California and Greenbelt, Maryland. Founded in 1983 by Steve Gorevan and Chris Chapman, the company designs and builds robotic drilling, sampling, and manipulation systems for planetary exploration, with hardware on every successful NASA Mars rover mission since Spirit and Opportunity. The company built the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) on the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Sample Manipulation System and Dust Removal Tool on Curiosity, and the Phoenix Scoop on the 2008 Phoenix Lander. Acquired by Ensign-Bickford Industries in 2017, then sold to Blue Origin in January 2022, Honeybee is now a Blue Origin subsidiary with ~284 employees and ~$75M revenue. The company has launched over 3,000 components and systems to space, with current missions including NASA's VIPER lunar rover, Mars Sample Return, JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), and [Dragonfly](/companies/dragonfly-ai) to Titan.","status":"active","founded":1983,"hq":"Longmont, Colorado, USA","hqLat":40.1672117,"hqLng":-105.101928,"hqGeocodedAt":"2026-08-05T14:33:08.756Z","hqAddress":null,"hqPrecision":null,"website":"honeybeerobotics.com","fundingTotal":null,"type":"hardware","roles":["robot_maker"],"reviewStatus":"reviewed","heatIndex":56,"lifecycleState":"active","supersededByCompanyId":null,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.blueorigin.com/news/honeybee-robotics-to-join-blue-origin","title":"Honeybee joins Blue Origin","sourceName":"Blue Origin"},{"url":"https://www.blueorigin.com/exploration-systems","title":"Exploration Systems","sourceName":"Blue Origin"}],"keyFacts":[{"label":"Parent","value":"Blue Origin (acquired)"},{"label":"HQ","value":"Longmont, Colorado, USA"},{"label":"Founded","value":"1983"},{"label":"Mars heritage","value":"Drilling systems on Mars since 2004 — Spirit, Opportunity, Perseverance rovers"},{"label":"Products","value":"Planetary drills, sample acquisition systems, robotic arms, lunar utility systems"},{"label":"NASA missions","value":"Sample Delivery Carousel shipped to NASA Goddard; lunar ISRU with Pioneer Astronautics"},{"label":"Incidents","value":"None found — audited"},{"label":"Blue Origin subsidiary","value":"Blue Origin announced that Honeybee Robotics would join Blue Origin, adding Honeybee's space robotics and planetary exploration capabilities to Blue Origin's exploration systems work ([Blue Origin and Honeybee](https://www.blueorigin.com/news/honeybee-robotics-to-join-blue-origin))","sourceUrl":"https://www.blueorigin.com/news/honeybee-robotics-to-join-blue-origin"},{"label":"Planetary robotics portfolio","value":"Blue Origin's exploration systems material identifies Honeybee technologies including drills, sample handling, and mechanisms for lunar and planetary missions ([Blue Origin exploration systems](https://www.blueorigin.com/exploration-systems))","sourceUrl":"https://www.blueorigin.com/exploration-systems"}],"aliases":["Honeybee Robotics Ltd.","Honeybee Robotics (Blue Origin)"],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"atsProvider":null,"atsSlug":null,"factoryLocations":null,"manufacturingCapacity":null,"orgType":null,"burnSignal":null,"litigationEvents":null,"insurancePostureDisclosed":null,"unitEconomicsDisclosed":null,"tickerSymbol":null,"stockExchange":null,"secCik":null,"revenueUsd":null,"revenueBasis":null,"revenueAsOf":null,"employeeCount":284,"employeeCountBasis":null,"employeeCountAsOf":null,"marketCapUsd":null,"marketCapAsOf":null,"marketCapSource":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-27T16:07:03.393Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-29T20:07:34.195Z","jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/companies/honeybee-robotics","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/companies/honeybee-robotics","name":"Honeybee Robotics","alternateName":["Honeybee Robotics Ltd.","Honeybee Robotics (Blue Origin)"],"description":"Honeybee Robotics, LLC is an American space robotics company headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, with additional facilities in Altadena, California and Greenbelt, Maryland. Founded in 1983 by Steve Gorevan and Chris Chapman, the company designs and builds robotic drilling, sampling, and manipulation systems for planetary exploration, with hardware on every successful NASA Mars rover mission since Spirit and Opportunity. The company built the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) on the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Sample Manipulation System and Dust Removal Tool on Curiosity, and the Phoenix Scoop on the 2008 Phoenix Lander. Acquired by Ensign-Bickford Industries in 2017, then sold to Blue Origin in January 2022, Honeybee is now a Blue Origin subsidiary with ~284 employees and ~$75M revenue. The company has launched over 3,000 components and systems to space, with current missions including NASA's VIPER lunar rover, Mars Sample Return, JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), and [Dragonfly](/companies/dragonfly-ai) to Titan.","identifier":"d16ba279-d04f-458b-bb19-40ef08a4abcd","foundingDate":"1983","address":"Longmont, Colorado, USA","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}},"framework_metadata":{"framework_schema_version":"0.1.0","verification_status":"verified","maturity_stage":null,"lifecycle_state":null,"architectural_position":{"cohort":null,"sub_cohorts":[]},"within_cohort_verified_vs_claimed_pair":null,"cap_flags":[],"verification_depth":{"sources_count":2,"primary_source_types":[]}}}