Google NASA collaboration details anounced, Google will fly you to the Moon and Mars

Google and NASA will work together to to bring wealth of information, weather on Earth, Space travel available on the Internet, NASA said Monday.

Weather visualization and forecasting and tracking that occurs abroad the international space station are part of the projects that are under discussion. The NASA administrator, Michael Griffin, said the agreement with Google would "soon allow every American to experience a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through the canyons of Mars."
So my guess is some sort of simulator similar to Google Earth, which might be called Google Moon and Google Mars traveler. What ever it is called I think they will be hits. Until now I thought that the exploremarsnow.org was the place for me to explore Mars. But now I am looking forward to see what NASA will cook up with Google.

The Associated Press article regarding the agreement;
"MOFFETT FIELD, Calif.— Google Inc. and NASA Ames Research Center said Monday that they have finalized an agreement to deliver more of the space agency's imagery and information through the Internet's leading search engine.

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 so the pictures and data are available to anyone with an Internet connection.

"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."

Links;
Explore Mars Now
Google current Mars site
Mars Image Library

Tags: NASA, Google, Mars, Google Mars, Mars Explorer, NASA Ames