Google will lease Moffett Naval Airfield, based in the Silicon Valley, to NASA. The purpose will be to house robotics exploration and space vehicles, among other uses.
This airfield space won’t come cheap, and the lease won’t be short. It will cost NASA $1.16 billion and the lease will last 60 years. NASA plans to clean up the hangars, including historic Hangar One, and build an educational museum. Moffett Naval Airfield is 1,000 acres big and has a golf course, two runways and an operations building. We can add this to the other robotic and satellite labs Google has acquired. Google is so invested in robotics, space, and satellite technology they have their own sub-division for it called X Lab. This X Lab is responsible for bringing us (or at least a handful of us) Google Glass. The X Lab is also working on a pill to detect early signs of cancer and heart attacks. This facility was designated a military historic site in the 1960s, so it can’t be torn down. But decades of decay still took it’s toll. By 2008, the National Trust for Historic Preservation called it one of the most endangered historic sites in America. Keep in mind Moffett Airfield isn’t far from the Googleplex. In fact, they’re less than five miles apart, and the airfield is currently used by Google for their private jets.
There are lots of possibilities and questions here. This is a very smart move for Google to find this historic gem so close to headquarters and take advantage of it. Not only are they expanding their empire, they’re saving an important piece of military history. When I think of other investment they’re in (have you seen these freak robots they’re sponsoring), and now they’re investing in medical technology as well as space? Is Google trying to take over the world?