More territory fer Madcap Big@l to search and apprise us of.

The Associated Press December 18, 2006, 6:50PM EST Google seals deal with NASA

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif.

Anyone with an Internet connection will soon be able to get three- dimensional maps of the moon, or real-time tracking of the space shuttle, after NASA agreed Monday to give more of its imagery and information to Google Inc.

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.

"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 Griffin said in a statement.

Google already draws upon some of NASA's imagery to provide Web surfers with interactive tours of Mars as part of a 9-month-old service.

Ames and Google also have vowed to work together to solve complex computing problems, including large-scale data management.

"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 Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in a statement.

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On the Net:

Google Mars: http://www.google.com/mars/

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8M3IJ003.htm