Honeybee Robotics, a research, development and manufacturing engineering company, has landed a $17.7 million contract to support NASA’s construction of the Mars Sample Return Capture, Containment and Retrieval System.
Under the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, Honeybee will provide manpower, services, equipment and facilities for the CCRS Earth Entry System and its component, the Spin Eject Mechanism, the agency said Thursday.
The robotics firm will be responsible for end-to-end support of the SEM, from design, analysis and development, to qualification, acceptance, delivery, until post-delivery.
The project will be performed until July 30, 2026, at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and at Honeybee’s operations in Altadena, California.
Honeybee is a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Origin, which acquired the company from Ensign-Bickford Industries in January.