WASHINGTON: After proving powered, controlled flight is possible on the Red Planet, Nasa’s Mars Ingenuity helicopter has new orders: scout ahead of the Perseverance rover to assist in its search for past signs of microbial life.

The next phase extends the rotocraft’s mission beyond the original month-long technology demonstration. Now, the goal is to assess how well flyers can help future exploration of Mars and other worlds.

“We’re going to gather information on the operational support capability of the helicopter while Perseverance focuses on its science mission,” Lori Glaze, director of Nasa’s Planetary Science Division, told reporters Friday.

The type of reconnaissance that Ingenuity performs could one day also prove useful to human missions, by scoping out the best paths for explorers to traverse, and reaching locations that aren’t otherwise possible.

The 1.8kg mini chopper successfully performed the fourth of its five originally planned flights on Friday, “going farther & faster than ever before”, Nasa tweeted.

The fifth is planned in the coming days, then its mission will be extended, initially by one Martian month.

Whether it continues beyond that will depend on if it’s still in good shape and if it’s helping, rather than hindering, the rover’s goals of collecting soil and rock samples for future lab analysis on Earth.

Chief engineer Bob Balaram predicted a limiting factor will be its ability to withstand the frigid Mars nights, where temperatures plunge to -90°C.

Ingenuity keeps warm with a solar-powered heater, but it was only designed to last for a month and engineers aren’t sure “how many freeze and thaw cycles (it) can go through before something breaks”, he said.

Nasa initially thought Perseverance would be driving away from the site where it landed at the Jezero Crater on Feb 18, just north of the planet’s equator.

That would have meant the rover leaving Ingenuity behind and moving beyond communications range.

Now though, the agency wants to keep Perseverance in the area for some time after finding a rocky outcrop that they believe contains some of the oldest material on the crater floor.

They hope to collect their first sample in July.

Ingenuity’s exploits have captured the public’s imagination since it made its first flight on April 19, but Nasa said this wasn’t a factor in its decision to allow the two robots to keep exploring Mars together.

“We really wish to spend a considerable amount of time where we are and so it’s sort of a fortuitous alignment,” said Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley.

Sekumpulan ahli arkeologi menemui berpuluh makam kuno di delta Sungai Nil yang dipercayai berasal dari zaman sebelum kemunculan kerajaan Firaun lebih 5,000 tahun lalu.

Mereka turut menemui beberapa makam berhampiran kawasan itu yang dipercayai berasal dari era Hyksos iaitu antara 1650 hingga 1500 sebelum masihi ketika penjajah asing itu yang menamatkan pemerintahan Kerajaan Tengah firaun.

Dua penemuan yang dilakukan di wilayah Dakahlia terletak di utara Mesir itu boleh memberi petunjuk kepada peralihan dua era terpenting dalam sejarah Mesir Kuno, kata pengkaji Mesir.

Menurut Kementerian Pelancongan dan Antikuiti Mesir, makam berkenaan termasuk 68 daripada era Buto yang bermula sekitar 3300 sebelum masihi manakala lima daripadanya pula berasal dari era Naqada III iaitu sebelum bermulanya dinasti pertama pemerintahan di Mesir sekitar 3100 sebelum masihi.

Ia termasuk juga 37 makam yang berasal dari era Hyksos yang mula menjajah Mesir dari Sinai pada 1800 sebelum masihi.

“Tapak perkuburan ini amat menarik kerana ia menggabungkan sebahagian era terawal dalam sejarah Mesir Kuno dengan satu lagi era penting iaitu Hyksos.

“Ahli pengkaji Mesir masih berusaha untuk memahami bagaimana orang Mesir dan Hyksos hidup bersama dan sejauh mana ia era sebelum itu mengamalkan tradisi Mesir,” kata ahli pengkaji Mesir di American University di Mesir, Salima Ikram.

Kementerian itu menjelaskan, makam era Buto itu mempunyai bentuk bujur dan mayat yang ditanam berada dalam keadaan mencangkung dengan bahagian kiri badan menghadap ke barat.

Manakala beberapa makam era Naqada pula turut mengandungi bekas silinder serta berbentuk seperti buah pear.

Berdasarkan pemerhatian mereka, makam dari era Hyksos pula kebanyakannya berbentuk separa segiempat dengan keadaan mayat yang terbaring dalam posisi memanjang dan kepala menghadap ke barat.

“Misi yang dilakukan ini turut menemui ketuhar, dapur, batu diperbuat daripada tanah liat, bekas tembikar, azimat, batu bernilai serta barangan kemas seperti anting-anting,” kata kenyataan itu.

Anda ada berita menarik untuk dikongsi? Sila email ke fmtohsem@freemalaysiatoday.com

GEORGE TOWN, April 30 — A Penang restaurant famous for its nasi kandar has been ordered to close for sanitisation works after some of its employees tested positive for Covid-19.

The Penang Kayu nasi kandar restaurant in Bukit Jambul here was issued a notice of closure dated April 29.

According to a spokesman from the state Health Department, around three employees had tested positive for Covid-19.

He said the other employees will have to undergo swab tests and be placed under quarantine for a minimum of 10 days.

It is likely that the 24-hour restaurant will be closed for the 10-day duration.

The nasi kandar shop, which was opened in the 1970s by a group of Penangites, has 10 branches in Kuala Lumpur and an outlet in Melaka.

Over the past week, dozens of schools in Penang have been closed while some have reverted to online learning due to Covid-19 infections among students.

As at April 27, Penang has an estimated R-naught of 0.99, among the lowest in the country while the national R-naught was 1.12.

At present, Penang has 15 active clusters in which eight involve the manufacturing sector, three the education, two social, one the detention centre and one in other categories.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — Malaysian household spending is expected to make a slow recovery in 2021 and beyond as the movement control order (MCO) is still in effect in the country due to rising Covid-19 cases, according to Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research (Fitch Solutions).

The Fitch Solutions Group unit had previously forecasted that real household spending would grow 11 per cent year-on-year back in January of this year.

However, this had been revised down to only 3 per cent year-on-year for 2021 and onwards.  

“In nominal terms, total household spending will be worth RM922 billion (US$222 billion) in 2021, slightly lower than the RM932.9 billion (US$225.3 billion) estimated for the pre-Covid-19 environment in 2019.

“We forecast real household spending in Malaysia will begin its recovery over 2021, growing by a projected 3 per cent year on year. We note that the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic created a significantly low base from which to grow,’’ said Fitch Solutions.

However, the retail sector still struggles with any form of growth and continues to be in decline due to the various movement restrictions put in place by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19.

“We also note that continued restrictions on inter-district and inter-state travel within the Klang Valley (centred on Kuala Lumpur and includes its adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor), which accounts for approximately 60 per cent of retail sales in the country, will delay this recovery.  

“However, these restrictions continue to speed up the development of the country’s e-commerce sector. The online retail sales index, which portrays e-commerce activity surged to record 23.1 per cent growth year on year,’’ said Fitch solutions.

Back in February, Fitch solutions had revised Malaysia’s real GDP growth forecast to 4.9 per cent from 10.0 per cent due to the implementation of MCO2.0.

While the government had provided several economic packages to cushion the economic impact of the new movement restriction order, Fitch Solutions opined that unemployment figures are likely to rise but will begin to fall only in the second half of 2021 onwards.

Fitch Solutions estimated that the unemployment level for 2020 was at 4.2 per cent of the labour force and forecasted 4.5 per cent of unemployment for 2021.

In 2020, the Malaysian government announced five stimulus packages, totalling RM72 billion (US$17.8 billion or 5 per cent of GDP) with an additional RM7 billion (US$4.2 billion) in the 2021 budget allocated to on Covid-19-related measures.

In 2021, two new stimulus packages totaling RM35 billion with key initiatives include accelerated social security payments under the existing programmes, the expansion of the wage subsidy programme, and additional cash payments to the vulnerable, among others.

Globally, Fitch Solutions opined that notable recovery in consumer spending relies on the ability of authorities to vaccinate a large number of their population and subsequent low number of Covid-19 infections and death rates.  

This situation coupled with governments easing movement restrictions will add to consumer confidence and rise in retail sales, said Fitch Solutions.

For Malaysia, however, Fitch Solutions opined that its national immunisation programme is comparatively slower compared to its regional neighbours.

“While the Health Ministry has developed a Covid-19 national vaccination plan, whereby between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of the population (20 million to 23 million people) will need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, the vaccination drive has so far been slow.

“As of April 25 2021, Malaysia has only administered 4.0 vaccine doses per 100 people. This is significantly lower than regional peers like China and Indonesia, who have administered 15.9 and 6.8 vaccine doses per 100 people respectively.’’

KUALA LUMPUR: The law bars the court from issuing injunctions against the government and its public servant for carrying out their official duties, the High Court heard today.

Senior federal counsel Asliza Ali, in objecting against an injunction sought by Dhaya Maju LTAT Sdn Bhd against the government over the Klang Valley Double Tracking Phase 2 (KVDT2) project, said Section 29 of the Government Proceedings Act “clearly states that the court shall not grant any orders that have the effect to restrain public duty”.

“On the balance of convenience, we say that an injunction will prevent us (the government) from discharging our public duty. Besides that, this KVDT2 would be stalled and cannot proceed,” she said.

Dhaya Maju LTAT filed a suit against the government, claiming that its termination letter was not duly sent to it, as required under the terms of its contract. The notice of termination was sent to the company some time in September last year.

It also said the government had no basis to terminate the contract on grounds of “public interest”.

The company is seeking an injunction to restrain the government from terminating the contract.

Asliza also said that any losses suffered by Dhaya Maju LTAT from the termination could be compensated by way of damages.

“An injunction should not be granted in cases where damages are easily quantifiable,” she said.

Dhaya Maju LTAT’s lawyer, Khoo Guan Huat, told the court they had sought the injunction to preserve the status quo between the company and government, pending disposal of the lawsuit.

“We are contesting this termination is unlawful. The minister (Wee Ka Siong) cited ‘national interest’ and our price was too high as reasons for it.

“We were terminated not because we did not do a good job,” he said, adding that the company had never breached the terms of the contract and had provided its best service to the government.

Khoo also said the termination would affect Dhaya Maju LTAT’s ability to vie for local and foreign projects in the future.

“Our reputation, credibility and standing in a small and specialised industry are at stake. All these are incalculable,” he said.

Judge Lim Chong Fong set June 4 to deliver his decision on Dhaya Maju LTAT’s injunction application.

Before the hearing started today, Lim had asked the lawyers if they were negotiating any settlement.

Khoo replied that the company representatives had met senior officials from the Treasury and transport ministry earlier this week. He said attorney-general Idrus Harun was also present.

Asliza confirmed that a meeting had taken place and said any decision on the issue would be deliberated by the Cabinet.

She said the Attorney-General’s Chambers had been instructed to proceed with the injunction hearing.

KVDT2 was one of the 101 projects costing RM6.61 billion alleged by the Perikatan Nasional government in Parliament to have been awarded through direct negotiation during the Pakatan Harapan administration.

The project spans 110km, involving two KTM railway tracks – one from Salak South to Seremban and the other from a point between Kuala Lumpur Sentral and Angkasapuri to Port Klang.

Previously, de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan had told Parliament the government was open to renegotiations with Dhaya Maju-LTAT to achieve a “win-win” solution.