Drilling, Sampling and Exploration

Sample analysis is at the heart of much exploration, both on Earth and off. Sample acquisition and processing systems for flight must be robust, reliable and fault-tolerant, tough enough and smart enough to deal with high forces in a dusty, extreme-temperature, semi-uncontrolled environment. At the same time, they must achieve the precision and cleanliness necessary to interact with sensitive scientific instruments.

Honeybee has unmatched experience in developing technologies for the sample acquisition and processing chain.  We work closely with our customers throughout the development process – from early-stage planning through operations – to make sure our systems suit their science and engineering requirements. Our sampling mechanisms have performed successfully in harsh environments ranging from the Australian Pilbara to Mars.

Our advanced drilling technologies include:

• Intelligent Drilling. Exploration spacecraft have strict limitations on the power, mass, and size available to drilling systems. Intelligent drilling systems make use of feedback from the drill itself to maximize results and avoid damaging the mechanism or getting stuck. Honeybee has demonstrated leadership in intelligent drilling methods, with its systems passing capability tests in demanding lab conditions and in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica.
• Autonomous Drilling. Many robotic systems must operate without human intervention, especially when the robot is millions of miles from Earth. Honeybee is a part of ongoing efforts demonstrating autonomous robotic exploration in harsh corners of the Earth as a means to learn more about the capabilities that robotic explorers will need for other planets.
• Sample Return Systems. Robotic explorers can perform a broad range of in situ science measurements, but no robot can pack the capability of a full laboratory. Returning Mars or lunar samples to Earth's laboratories is a complex and challenging task that requires intelligent, autonomous systems capable of acquiring and caching samples in an unstructured environment while minimizing contamination. Honeybee has developed promising approaches to sample return missions using a variety of drilling and gas-induced technologies.