Redwater to Regolith:
Drilling Across Mars, the Moon, Phobos, and Titan
Based on interviews with
Joey Palmowski, Systems Engineer
Kris Zacny, VP of Exploration Systems
Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin Company
Off-world resource development advances through missions that reach the surface, hardware that survives years of operation, and technologies that adapt across worlds. With flight heritage on Mars, successful lunar payloads, and sampling systems headed to Phobos and Titan, Honeybee’s work demonstrates how subsurface access enables exploration, science, and future resource use.
Now operating as part of Blue Origin, Honeybee Robotics plays a direct role in advancing the company’s long-term vision for sustained lunar and Martian presence. Honeybee Robotics continues to expand its role in planetary surface systems that support both near-term missions and long-range exploration goals.
A legacy on Mars
Honeybee’s Mars track record spans multiple generations of exploration hardware, with early mission contributions that reshaped how robotic systems interact with the Martian surface:
Spirit and Opportunity Rovers: Honeybee developed the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT), a rock drill designed to remove weathered rock layers and expose fresh material for cameras and spectrometers. The RAT was the very first tool to cut into Mars rocks.
Phoenix Lander: Honeybee built Icy Soil Acquisition Device (ISAD), or regolith and ice digger, to capture samples for the in-situ analysis. ISAD played a central role in exposing visible subsurface ice, producing one of the most recognizable images in Mars exploration and confirming the presence of accessible water. ISAD was also the very first mining tool that cut into cryogenic, rock-hard, Mars ice.
Curiosity Rover: Honeybee built ultra clean sample carousel, called Sample Manipulation System (SMS). SMS was used to deliver Mars regolith and rock powder into Mass Spectrometer system called Sample Analysis at Mars or SAM.
That mission heritage leads directly into Honeybee’s forward-looking next phase of work on Mars. The RedWater system concept is a NASA-funded effort to demonstrate robotic access to and extraction of subsurface ice on Mars. Designed to reach ice deposits believed to lie beneath a regolith overburden layer, the system targets access depths of tens to hundreds of meters and beyond. Inspired by Rodwell methods used in polar environments such as Antarctica, RedWater integrates drilling with subsurface ice melting and water collection. On Mars, that water becomes foundational infrastructure supporting propulsion, life support, and sustained surface operations.
Trench dug by the Phoenix scoop exposing an icy layer.
Image Credit: NASA JPL
Redwater
Drilling down deep for ice on Mars via RedWater technology.
Image Credit: Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin Company
Blue Ghost Mission-1
Image Credit: Firefly Aerospace
PlanetVac on lunar surface Image Credit: Firefly Aerospace
The Moon: Blue Ghost payloads and drill-less access
Honeybee’s recent lunar work flew aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander and included two distinct payloads as a part of the NASA CLPS program that demonstrated new approaches to subsurface access and sampling.
One payload, known as LISTER, demonstrated pneumatic drilling by using compressed gas to excavate regolith without rotating drill bits. The system reached approximately one meter (three feet) into the lunar surface, supporting temperature and thermal conductivity measurements and marking the deepest robotic subsurface thermal probe deployed on the Moon to date. This was also the first lunar robotic drill from the U.S.
A second payload, PlanetVac, demonstrated regolith sampling by combining compressed gas with the Moon’s natural vacuum. A simple deployment arm positioned a collection cone at the surface, where gas-assisted excavation lofted material into a sample chamber. Despite sampling cone being positioned above the surface, PlanetVac successfully collected and size-sorted lunar material in seconds, validating a low-complexity approach to reliable surface sampling.
Together, these payloads reinforced a key lesson for future space systems. Simpler mechanisms with fewer moving parts can deliver reliable subsurface access and sampling in harsh environments. PlanetVac is heading to Phobos in 2028 as part of the Martian Moons eXploration mission.
LISTER making hole on the Moon
Credit: Firefly Aerospace
Titan: Sampling for science on a distant world
Honeybee’s next major destination is Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. On NASA’s Dragonfly mission, Honeybee is providing Drill for Acquisition of Complex Organics (DrACO). DrACO is a robotic sampling system responsible for drilling, acquiring Titan surface and subsurface material, and delivering this material into Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS) for analysis. The system integrates compact drilling with pneumatic sample transfer and a sample carousel, enabling controlled handling of material from Titan’s organic-rich surface. Pneumatic transfer, akin to a typical vacuum cleaner on Earth, allows samples to be delivered in fraction of a second.
While Titan’s mission objectives focus on chemistry and habitability rather than resource extraction, the sampling technologies reflect the same design principles used on Mars and the Moon. Autonomy, reliability, and adaptability define systems built to operate far from Earth.
Artist’s concept of Dragonfly’s entry, descent, and landing, its liftoff to explore the surface of Titan. Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL
Where space mining goes next
Across Mars rovers, lunar landers, and upcoming deep-space missions, Honeybee Robotics demonstrates that whether grinding rock, drilling regolith, extracting water, or collecting pristine samples, these technologies can turn planetary surfaces into usable environments.
As part of Blue Origin, Honeybee’s work aligns with broader efforts to enable sustained exploration and long-term presence beyond Earth. The company’s trajectory shows how space mining begins with access and grows through proven missions.
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