This alliance takes the Google Earth project to new heights … I guess. The press release is actually too vague for any reasonable extrapolation of its meaning.

"Our planned partnership presents an enormous range of potential benefits to the space program," said NASA Ames Center Director G. Scott Hubbard. "Just a few examples are new sensors and materials from collaborations on bio-info-nano convergence, improved analysis of engineering problems as well as Earth, life and space science discoveries from supercomputing and data mining, and bringing entrepreneurs into the space program. While our joint efforts will benefit both organizations, the real winner will be the American public," he added.

OK, I'm all for being a winner. Eric Schmidt's remarks at least offered an example.

"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. That's just one small example of how this collaboration could help broaden technology's role in making the world a better place."

Ah, the ol' search and retrieval. I can relate to that. But there's going to be more to this than mere organization. Google intends to develop a million square feet of the Ames Research Center, a collaborative facility in Silicon Valley. [via press release]