A research and development partnership between NASA and Google was announced back in September of 2005, and now, more than a year later, they are just about ready to collaborate.
The two companies will work together through their formal agreement to study a number of issues from scientific-data search technology to expanding Google Earth to the moon and Mars.
According to CNET ” the first collaboration between Google and NASA Ames will concern the availability of NASA information over the Internet. For example, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in a statement that “soon” there will be Google Earth flyovers available for the surfaces of Mars and the moon. Additional data will include real-time weather forecasting and visualization, as well as tracking of the International Space Station and space shuttle activity”.
Not all projects will involve incorporating NASA information into Google but will include a number of research based items such as dealing with human-computer interaction and education-related collaborations.