NASA and Google Reach Space Act Agreement

Damn, I’ve been waiting to write a headline that sounds like it came out of a near-future space opera.

Michael Mewhinney
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-3937/9000

MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-190

NASA AMES SCHEDULES BRIEFING TO DISCUSS GOOGLE AGREEMENT

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif,. – NASA Ames Research Center hosts a media briefing Monday to discuss a major announcement involving Google, Inc.

WHAT: Media briefing announcing details of Space Act Agreement with Google, Inc.

WHERE: NASA Ames Research Center, Bldg. N-200, upstairs conference room

WHO: S. Pete Worden, director, NASA Ames Research Center and Chris Kemp, director of business development, NASA Ames Research Center

WHEN: 11:00 a.m. PST, Monday, Dec. 18, 2006. Media call-in: 1-866-758-1669; pass code: 2663262

What exactly is a “Space Act Agreement”? Garett Rogers thinks it refers to the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which states the following purpose:

Sec. 401. (a) The purpose of this title is to authorize and direct the Administration to develop and carry out a comprehensive program of research, technology, and monitoring of the phenomena of the upper atmosphere so as to provide for an understanding of and to maintain the chemical and physical integrity of the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Monitoring of the phenomena of the upper atmosphere, eh? Sounds like that add-on NASA just made for Google Earth, iEarth, coming in April to a screen near you.

Called iEarth, the NASA software scours EOS databanks for information and converts it into a file that can be viewed via Google Earth. Choosing a spot on the planet’s surface will prompt iEarth to display ground-based measurements for that location, as well as data relating to the atmosphere and space above it.

Watch this space for updates (no pun intended). Looks like the local weather bureau’s about to get even more useless.

(Via Benj Arriola.)

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