imagine the range it gets by not having to compete with all the wifi networks
don't tell Hibbert, he'll be spamming NASA with the logic of using 23 million wifi routers to bridge his internet connection to Mars. 
Better to just to send him there
oooohhh the zigbee 
Maybe Bezos will send him some Yaht's for his trip.
Does Amazon have prime delivery to Mars?
Probably not yet, but I’m guessing that NASA probably forgot to opt Ingenuity out of Amazon’s Sidewalk network.
In addition my guess NASA doesn't worry about FCC power limitations.
Definitely cool. Think about it, literal rocket scientists had a choice of a myriad of protocols including inventing their own. Zigbee was the best bet and checked the most boxes at the time. Energy efficiency was probably a big factor. Even so, good points on the FCC/power comment. I wonder if they did end up jacking up the power a bit to get the distances farther.
Zigbee long range (sub Ghz) based on Zigbee Pro was developed years ago... sounds good on paper: almost 4 mile range (even on Earth), 10 year battery lifetime, 1Mbit data rate, various topologies including mesh supported; certified by the Zigbee Alliance. Atmel bought the IP of Meshnetics (the Zigbit product line) over 10 years ago. I can't seem to find any Atmel datasheets more recent than 2009, and the Zigbit 900 product doesn't seem to be in stock anywhere. Maybe NASA bought it all...
