Honeybee Robotics
[ACTIVE]HQ: Longmont, Colorado · Est. 1983 · 1 model registered
As of Sep 2026, DEPLOY verifies Honeybee Robotics: 1 model. 5 sources back the record.
Ownership
ACTIVE
Capital / Funding
Undisclosed
Headquarters
Longmont, Colorado
IP / Patents
4 Active
Platform Models
1
Audited Incidents
0
Overview
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 to Titan.
Funding runway warrants monitoring: last known round 57 months ago.
Key Facts
Safety & Regulatory Posture
No incidents on record for Honeybee Robotics.
Leadership & Founders
Current Program Leadership & Executives
Co-founder
Co-founder
VP of Exploration Systems
Founding Team
cofounder · no longer at company
cofounder · no longer at company
Partnerships & Commercial Deployments
Key Recurring Partners
Recent Verified Partnerships
- Honeybee Robotics x Firefly Aerospace (Gruithuisen Domes Lunar Rover)Mar 24, 2025
MOST RECENT · Honeybee Robotics x Firefly Aerospace (Gruithuisen Domes Lunar Rover) · 2025-03-24 · with Firefly Aerospace · OPERATING · Honeybee Robotics x NASA (Mars Sample Return) · 2022-12-01 · with NASA · OPERATING · Honeybee Robotics x NASA · 2010-01-01 · with NASA · OPERATING
Patents & Intellectual Property
- Filed: Aug 14, 2019Granted: Dec 5, 2023
- Filed: Mar 15, 2007
- Filed: Jan 15, 2017
- Filed: Jun 15, 2017
FAQ
What is Honeybee Robotics?
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 to Titan.
What does Honeybee Robotics make?
Honeybee Robotics has 1 robot model on the DEPLOY registry: TRIDENT Lunar Drill (Honeybee Robotics builds physical robots).
Is Honeybee Robotics publicly traded?
Honeybee Robotics is not an independent public company; it has been acquired, per the DEPLOY registry.
Who competes with Honeybee Robotics?
On the DEPLOY registry, peer companies to Honeybee Robotics building in the same form factors include Impulse Space, AstroForge, Astrobotic Technology, China National Space Administration.
Who is the CEO of Honeybee Robotics?
Chris Chapman is the founder of Honeybee Robotics, per the DEPLOY registry.
How can I invest in Honeybee Robotics?
Honeybee Robotics has no separately traded stock; it has been acquired.
Where is Honeybee Robotics headquartered?
Honeybee Robotics is headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, USA.
Who owns Honeybee Robotics?
Honeybee Robotics has been acquired and is no longer independently owned.
Where does Honeybee Robotics operate robots?
Honeybee Robotics is a robot manufacturer and does not directly operate deployments on the DEPLOY registry. Its products are deployed by customer operators; see the company page for the verified deployment record.
Is Honeybee Robotics a top robotics company?
On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, funding, hiring, media, safety, and IP signals, Honeybee Robotics ranks in roughly the top 94% of companies tracked by the registry.
Is Honeybee Robotics safe?
Honeybee Robotics has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.