Canada to get its first spaceport, first launch targeted for the year 2020

EchoStar XXIII Mission from SpaceX/Flickr

The town of Canso on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia will be home to Canada’s first spaceport. It’s owned by private Canadian space corporation Maritime Launch Services (MLS) and they plan to begin building the facility by 2018. The area was selected after assessing 14 different areas because of its low population density and that rockets launched from the spaceport will fly over a large body of water. The company is seeking federal and provincial approval before they can begin construction on the site.

The spaceport will be a purely commercial venture between MLS and a Ukrainian firm. MLS wants to start launching as soon as the year 2020 and have as many as eight launches per year by 2022. These initial missions will be involving the Ukrainian-built Cyclone 4M rockets. It isn’t known if MLS will let other private space companies or Canada’s own space agency to use the spaceport. But if it does, it’ll help save them the trip of sending their rockets to Virginia.

Source: Engadget

‘Sesame Street’ brings Julia, a Muppet with autism, to the TV show

Hoping to reach out to more children, Sesame Street is bringing one of the characters it introduced digitally into the show. Julia, a Muppet with autism who was introduced a couple of years back, will now be a regular on the show. To get her character right, the Sesame Street team worked not just with child psychologists but also with autism organizations. It was done in an effort to normalize children’s interaction with other kids who might have autism. According to Sesame Street writer Christine Ferraro, Julia’s inclusion in the show is happening “so that when [children] encounter [autistic children] in their real life, it’s familiar. And they see that these—these can be their friends, too.” Julia’s character will be making an appearance on the TV show in the next few weeks.

With its 1st Julia ep, Sesame Street hopes to deliver a message of inclusion. Elmo: We really like Julia. She’s really special to us.” pic.twitter.com/UpgbMQr1pt

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 20, 2017

Source: Mashable

Uber loses its president after 6 months on the job

Amidst all the controversies it finds itself in, its second in command has left the company. The news first broke on Recode and has now been confirmed by the ride-sharing company. Uber President Jeff Jones has left the company. According to a statement from Uber they “want to thank Jeff for his six months and the company and wish him all the best.” Prior to his job at Uber, he previously ran marketing for Target. Jones headed Uber’s operations, marketing, and customer support. But it seems the difficult past few months for the company proved to be too difficult for him.

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