Dec 19 2006
NASA and Google: A Match Made in the Heavens
Have you ever wanted to see those pictures taken from the moon visits or see the images from the Hubble telescope? How about a 3D virtual trip to Mars? Well, your wish may be coming to a browser near you thanks to a deal announced Monday between NASA and Google:
Google and NASA announced 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 the Earth and the universe, this information is scattered and hard to find and is difficult for the average person to understand, they said.
Why is this deal necessary for us?
“NASA has collected and processed more information about our planet and universe than any other entity in the history of humanity,” said Chris C. Kemp, director of strategic business development at Ames. “Even though this information was collected for the benefit of everyone, and much is in the public domain, the vast majority of this information is scattered and difficult for non-experts to access and to understand.”
This latest agreement is just the next step for NASA and Google:
The collaboration marks another step in a partnership announced 15 months ago when Google unveiled plans to build a 1 million-square-foot campus at the NASA center, located a few miles south of the company’s Mountain View headquarters.
Under the arrangement, Ames will feed Google with its weather forecasting information, three-dimensional maps of the moon and Mars, and real-time tracking of the International Space Station and space shuttle flights.
In the 1960s, this country was gripped by the “Space Race” and the desire to be the first to the moon. At that time, we wanted to be first to the moon more out of fear than anything else. Almost 50 years later, it looks like we are heading back; and this time for a much better purpose.
Other thoughts:
Another sign of hope at NASA. I can’t imagine this kind of deal happening during my days in and around the space program. Hopefully, it’s just a start.
According to a spokesman, all this will “soon allow every American to experience a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through the canyons of Mars.” And yes, that sound pretty cool. And when the aliens come, this time we’ll totally be able to Google them. The truth can be Googled, after all.
NASA definitely has a lot of data that needs organizing. They’ve tried working with third parties in the past, but the job was just too much for anyone else to take on. Good luck Google… you’ll need it.
Unlocking the access to NASA images and information and making them broadly available is consistent with its mission as a public entity, he said. Currently, many images and information remain stored in NASA databases.
Ultimately, this announcement is not about the client, but about the content, and I for one am very excited about the prospects. The Earth is Square is right, albeit graceless, when it writes, “But let Google spend its millions.. they do the hard work and because the data has to be in the public domain.. it will be in World Wind in no time.” Indeed, and users will then get to decide if they want to view the data on a souped-up atlas with social software skills and high resolution imagery as context, or in a realistic-looking, open-source virtual globe. There’s room for both.
