Google to Put NASA Data on the Web

Google and NASA have signed a formal collaboration agreement that calls for Google to help make NASA information readily accessible on the Web.

Google and NASA announced on Monday the signing of their Space Act Agreement, which calls for them to collaborate on making it easy for people to find weather visualization and forecasting data, see high-resolution 3-D maps of the moon and Mars, and track, in real-time, the International Space Station and the space shuttle.

In short, the partnership seeks to make NASA’s work “accessible to everyone,” Google and NASA said in a statement. Although NASA has collected massive amounts of information about Earth and the universe, this information is scattered and hard to find and is difficult for the average person to understand, they said.

The two organizations will also tackle what they consider to be challenging technical problems in areas like large-scale data management, massively distributed computing and user interfaces.

In September of last year, Google and NASA signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on solving technical problems. That memorandum also called for Google to develop up to 1 million square feet within the NASA Research Park at Moffett Field.

NASA and Google are finalizing details for additional collaborations in areas like research, products, facilities and education.

The organizations will hold a press conference Monday afternoon to offer more information about their partnership.

-Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service (Miami Bureau)

Related Link:

• Google, NASA to Make ‘Major’ Announcement Monday

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