Google joins NASA to extend its reach to space

Google Inc. on Monday entered into a Space Act Agreement with NASA Ames Research Center, a NASA facility which helps provide research support for the activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in order to handle together a variety of challenging technical problems including large-scale data management, massively distributed computing and human-computer interfaces.

Initially, the US space agency and the online search giant Google will devote their efforts to make more of the space agency's imagery and information available through the Internet's leading search engine.

Under the agreement, the Moffett Federal Airfield, California based Ames will later post its weather forecasting information, 3-D maps of the moon and Mars, real-time tracking of the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle flights on Google site, enabling people in United States to get access to the space images and data through an Internet connection.

"This agreement between NASA and Google will soon allow every American to experience a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through the canyons of Mars," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. "This innovative combination of information technology and space science will make NASA's space exploration work accessible to everyone."

In response to a query about the selection of Google for the collaboration, NASA stated that it is only Google that can help spread excitement and knowledge about space and about the US space agency's future plans to go back to the moon and on to Mars through its technical expertise and popularity as well.

"Partnering with NASA made perfect sense for Google, as it has a wealth of technical expertise and data that will be of great use to Google as we look to tackle many computing issues on behalf of our users," Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, said in a statement.

Some other areas such as research, products, facilities and education are also on the way to join the series of joint collaborations between NASA and Google. Both the parties said they have plans to integrate the agency data sets in Google Earth, directing towards user studies and cognitive modeling for human computer interaction, and science data search, making use of different Google features and products.

Google’s latest collaboration with NASA comes as its subsequent part of its efforts to partner with the space agency it initiated in September 2005. The online search giant at that time announced its plans to build a 1-million-square-foot campus just a few miles away from its 915,000-square-foot headquarters, known as the "Googleplex," in the premises of NASA's Ames Research Center.