[X] My Assistant

[CosmicRocker]

A good source mentioned this NASA Press Briefing on IRC tonight. I haven't noticed it being mentioned on this forum so far.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/rele...06/06_93AR.html

There is additional gossip on SpaceRef.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=21479

HiRise imagery on Google Mars is the first thing that comes to mind, but the SpaceRef note seems to suggest a project of wider scope. Considering Google's track record and the fact that they will be contributing funding to support NASA employees as a part of this agreement, I am eagerly anticipating the details. It is apparently a Space Act Agreement, whatever that implies. I am not finding much on the blogs or in the newsgroups.

Have any members here found additional information?

[CosmicRocker]

There is now an updated news release from NASA Ames.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/rele...06/06_96AR.html

It still doesn't contain a lot of information, but there is more than was available yesterday.

As the first in a series of joint collaborations, Google and Ames will focus on making the most useful of NASA's information available on the Internet. Real-time weather visualization and forecasting, high-resolution 3-D maps of the moon and Mars, real-time tracking of the International Space Station and the space shuttle will be explored in the future.

"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.

[Phillip]

The Washington Post has picked up the story, a portion of which I excerpted below:

NASA Launches Google Collaboration
Web Giant Will Make Images From Space Agency's Missions Accessible to Public

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 19, 2006; Page A27

NASA, seeking to give the public easy access to its massive trove of images and data about Earth and outer space, has entered into a formal agreement with Google to post material from the agency's many missions on the Internet. As the technology improves and the collaboration grows, officials said, viewers could one day be treated to live video from the moon, Mars and elsewhere.

"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," NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin said in a statement. He called the effort one "to make NASA's space exploration work accessible to everyone."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...?referrer=email

Phillip