‘Mars missing water is buried beneath surface’

Billions of years ago, Mars was home to lakes and oceans — but where all the water went to transform the planet into the desolate rock we know today has been something of a mystery.

Most of it was thought to have been lost to space, but a new study funded by Nasa proposes that it didn’t go anywhere, but is trapped within minerals in the crust.

“We’re saying that the crust forms what we call hydrated minerals, so minerals that actually have water in their crystal structure,” Eva Scheller, lead author of the new paper in Science, said.

In fact, Scheller’s model suggests anywhere between 30 and 99 per cent of the initial water remains trapped inside these minerals.

Early Mars was thought to have enough water to cover the whole planet in roughly 100m to 1,500m of ocean.

Because the planet lost its magnetic field early in its history, its atmosphere was progressively stripped away, and it was assumed this was how it lost its water.

But the authors of the new study believe that while some of the water did disappear, the majority remained.

Using observations made by Mars rovers as well as of meteorites from the planet, the team focused on hydrogen, a key component of water.

There are different kinds of hydrogen atoms.

Most have just one proton in their nucleus, but a tiny fraction, about 0.02 per cent, have both a proton and a neutron, making them heavier. These are known as deuterium, or “heavy” hydrogen.

Because the lighter kind escapes the planet’s atmosphere at a faster rate, the loss of most of the water to space would leave relatively more deuterium behind.

But given how much water the planet is believed to have started with, and the current rate of hydrogen escape observed by spacecraft, the current deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio cannot be explained by atmospheric loss alone.

The Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) is pleased to announce that majority of life insurance companies in the country are extending financial assistance to policyholders who may develop side effects or complications resulting in hospitalisation following Covid-19 vaccination under the National Covid-19

Immunisation Programme.

The coverage includes hospitalisation costs that are medically necessary and reasonable due to the side effects from the Covid-19 vaccine. However, the financial assistance is subject to terms and conditions set by insurance companies.

A number of life insurance companies are also offering cash relief programmes for side effects from the Covid-19 vaccine under their respective Covid-19 Vaccine Fund/ Medical Assistance Programme.

The Medical Assistance Programme comes in the following forms:

1. Reimbursement of medical bill for Covid-19 patients from RM5,000 to RM20,000 and post-Covid-19 vaccination support up to RM5,000 for hospitalisation due to vaccine side effects.

2. Medical assistance up to RM5,000 per claim and special death benefits of RM7,500.

3. Hospitalisation income of RM200 per day for seven days and RM10,000 death benefit for deaths that occur within 30 days from vaccination.

4. RM500 cash relief for hospitalisation due to adverse effects from immunisation within seven days after receiving the vaccine.

Speaking on the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme launched by the government, LIAM cheif executive officer Mark O’Dell lauded the government’s proactive efforts in taking preventive measures to protect and build immunity among the rakyat against the Covid-19 virus.

“We urge all Malaysians to play their part in this Covid-19 battle by registering themselves for the immunisation programme via the MySejahtera application.

“Policyholders are also advised to contact their insurance company directly to find out more about the assistance offered in the event that they may develop side effects from the Covid-19 vaccination,” said O’Dell.

In the past year, the insurance and takaful industry has played an important role in implementing relief measures to assist policyholders during the pandemic. These include the set up of the RM8 million Covid-19 Test Fund (CTF) in March last year to support the government’s efforts to conduct more tests on Malaysians to curb the spread of the virus. The CTF provides a fixed cash reimbursement up to RM300 for the cost of Covid-19 testing for policyholders who are at risk or categorised as persons under investigation.

Since the third wave of the pandemic, the CTF eligibility criteria has been extended to include asymptomatic patients and hospital admissions due to emergency and semi-emergency surgeries. To date, the CTF has received almost 30,000 submissions via the MyCTF portal at www.MyCTF.my.

In addition to industry-wide efforts, individual life insurers have also rolled out various schemes to aid policyholders. These include the deferment of three months of insurance premium payments granted to policyholders who were financially affected by the pandemic. This year, majority of life insurance companies have extended this three month deferment of insurance premium to June. Policyholders are advised to contact their insurance companies directly for further details on this facility.

Some life insurance companies have also introduced additional relief measures for policyholders this year in the form of financial assistance, including hospitalisation allowance and lump-sum death/compassionate benefits due to Covid-19.