Space geeks and science geeks were over the Moon—as it were—last month, when NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) scientists were able to land a new rover, Perseverance, on the surface of Mars, in its quest to learn more about the nature of the Red Planet. According to NASA’s Perseverance Rover mission website, the rover’s mission is to “seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.” The rover was launched on July 30, 2020, and achieved a perfect landing on the Jezero Crater on Mars on Feb. 18.
As CNN’s Ashley Strickland wrote on February 19, “The NASA Perseverance rover safely landed on Mars after its 292.5 million-mile journey from Earth, the agency confirmed at 3:55 p.m. ET Thursday. The rover landed itself flawlessly, according to the mission’s team. ‘Percy,’ as the spacecraft is affectionately called at mission control, sent back its first images of the landing site immediately after touchdown, which shows the rover’s shadow on the surface of its landing site of Jezero Crater. The rover has been on a nearly 300 million-mile journey since it left Earth more than 6 months ago. And she quoted acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk as stating that “This landing is one of those pivotal moments for NASA, the United States, and space exploration globally -- when we know we are on the cusp of discovery and sharpening our pencils, so to speak, to rewrite the textbooks.”
As the New York Times’s Kenneth Chang noted on Feb. 19, “While the agency has landed other missions on Mars, the $2.7 billion robotic explorer named Perseverance carries a sophisticated set of scientific tools that will bring advanced capabilities to the search for life beyond our planet.”
The excitement on February 18 was palpable. As Chang wrote, “At 3:55 p.m. cheers erupted in the control room with the announcement that Perseverance was intact on the surface. ‘Touchdown confirmed,’ said Swati Mohan, the engineer who provided commentary on the descent.”
Much could be learned from this mission, according to NASA, including, for the first time, looking for “signs of past microbial life” on Mars, and “demonstrating key technologies for using natural resources in the Martian environment for life support and fuel,” for the time in the future when “future human explorers” might land on that planet.
Facing the challenges of sending the most robotic explorer yet to Mars was an exciting set of tasks for NASA scientists. Meanwhile, back here on Earth, U.S. healthcare leaders are busy trying to adjust to a constantly shifting policy, operational, clinical, and technological landscape. In that regard, we at Healthcare Innovation are privileged and delighted once again to present our annual Ten Transformative Trends cover story package. Beginning on page 6, you’ll find articles on the unfolding federal healthcare policy landscape for the next two years; pioneering provider organizations’ creation of a new “digital front door” for consumers; rapid advances in creating hospital-at-home programs; the evolving discussion around the social determinants of health; health system efforts to track and reduce disparities; and bolstering public health data infrastructure.
We hope you’ll enjoy these articles and find them useful. We are proud to present this special collection of articles to our readers every year, as we are committed as always to helping our readers to anticipate and prepare to meet the future. the future of American healthcare may not be as “futuristic” as the exploration of distant planets in our solar system; but it is and remains of vital importance to us all. Enjoy!
