Google, NASA team in space research

San Francisco: Google and the National Aeronautical and Space administration (NASA) said they plan to cooperate on research projects such as large-scale data management, Nan technology, massively distributed computing and the entrepreneurial space industry.

NASA Center Director, G Scott Hubbard said in a statement that the public-private partnership holds "an enormous range of potential benefits to the space program."

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.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Google Chairman and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said "Google and NASA share a common desire to bring a universe of information to people around the world,"

"Imagine having a wide selection of images from the Apollo space mission at your fingertips whenever you want it," said Schmidt.

The seven-year-old company has been hiring employees at a rapid pace to meet explosive demand for its advertising-supported search and other Internet businesses. Google currently has 4,100 employees worldwide.

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 program."

The total land available to the project is around 4.2 million square feet, which will be used for a mix of research facilities, housing, and university education facilities, said Google spokesperson at a press conference on wednesday.

With NASA and Google amalgamation, more space researches and upgradation in space technology is expected.