Google teams up with Nasa in space research

SAN FRANCISCO - Web search company Google Inc said on Wednesday that it plans to partner with Nasa on space research projects and to build a new campus at a Nasa research centre in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Google and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration said they plan to co-operate on research projects such as large-scale data management, nanotechnology, massively distributed computing and the entrepreneurial space industry.

Nasa Ames Centre director G. Scott Hubbard said in a statement that the public-private partnership holds "an enormous range of potential benefits to the space programme".

The deal calls for Google to develop up to 1 million square feet of real estate within the Nasa Research Park at Moffett Field, a former Naval air base that is surrounded by thousands of high-tech companies in the heart of Silicon Valley.

The building plan is roughly double the size of its current headquarters in the adjoining town of Mountain View, California, where Google moved into the old offices of Silicon Graphics Inc just two years ago.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Seven-year-old Google has been hiring employees at a rapid pace to meet explosive demand for its advertising-supported search and other internet businesses. Google currently has 4100 employees worldwide.

Hubbard said examples of the sorts of projects envisioned under the partnership include new types of remote sensors, improved analysis of engineering problems and "materials from collaborations on bio-info-nano convergence".

The Nasa Ames director said other research would focus on "Earth, life and space science discoveries from supercomputing and data mining, and bringing entrepreneurs into the space programme."

The government research centre now known as Nasa Ames was founded in 1939. Early on, it played a role in the design and testing of the P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning fighter planes during World War II. The facility later conducted research for the Apollo moon missions.

Local boosters said they are hoping to turn Moffett Field into a new hub of research and development activity for Silicon Valley, with the Nasa-Google partnership as a magnet.

Google shares fell 2.5 per cent, or US$7.94 ($11.70), to close at US$306 on Nasdaq ahead of the announcement.

Earlier this month Google sold US$4.2 billion in additional shares to raise funds for working capital, capital spending, and acquisitions, leaving it with roughly US$7 billion in cash.

- REUTERS