Technology by the Zigbee Alliance enables communication on Mars
The Zigbee Alliance assisted in developing the communication system between the Ingenuity drone and the Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars a few days ago. Both Perseverance and Ingenuity are equipped with 900 MHz Zigbee radio link chipsets that are designed to relay data over distances of up to 1 kilometer. They can transfer information between each other, as well as send it back to Earth through the Mars orbiters.
Reliable and secure communication
Zigbee is an open, global standard for wireless communication between wireless devices. Zigbee devices can easily be integrated into systems across the IoT industry via Zigbee gateways, for example for security, home care, insurtech, or energy management solutions. The Zigbee protocol is secure and reliable, which is one of the reasons why it has become one of the world’s most widely adopted protocols.
First drone flight on another planet
On the 18th of February 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover and successfully landed on Mars. Within its belly, it transported a Mars helicopter, or “marscopter” Ingenuity, which was released after the touchdown. The aim of the drone is to prove that this flying technology can survive the weather conditions on the Red Planet, which has about 1% of the Earth’s atmosphere density and is notably colder. It will be the first time a drone helicopter flies on any planet beyond Earth.
