News: Google is smoking some serious NASA

Because I don't subscribe to the "Google is God" theory, I suppose I'm allowed to be puzzled by the company's MOU (memorandum of understanding) with NASA. Haven't heard about it? Take a look at NASA's press release:

NASA and Google have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that outlines plans for cooperation on a variety of areas, including large-scale data management, massively distributed computing, bio-info-nano convergence, and encouragement of the entrepreneurial space industry. The MOU also highlights plans for Google to develop up to 1 million square feet within the NASA Research Park at Moffett Field.

Whew! I was worried that someone was going to forget about the need to get moving on "bio-info-nano convergence," but it looks like Google is on the case. Are these guys for real?

Granted, I'm a mere earthling without a PhD in thermo-molecular-bio-jambajuice-nuclear arthritis, but at some point one has to rein in the free-wheeling ubergeek culture at Google and tell them to get a real job. It's nice that someone is doing "pure" research, but I sure wish I could do something with it. Well, besides use it in my new space tourism startup, which it appears Google's partnership with NASA will also facilitate.

While Google engages in somewhat silly, the-only-reason-we-can-get-away-with-it-is-because-investors-are-still-smoking-serious-crack-thinking-that-56x-earnings-is-a-reasonable-valuation activities, other worthy pursuits - which actually fit its core strengths - go untapped. Like genealogy, as I've written before, which is banking MyFamily.com well over $100M this year (on a torrid growth rate). It's perfectly suited to Search (structured data with hierarchies between them), but is currently woefully anemic in Search. Or shopping (Froogle stinks - it's amazing how bad it is given Google's strength in search). Or ... I'm sure you can think of things, too, that you'd put before "bio-info-nano convergence."

You have a $90 billion market cap, Google. That valuation (bloated though I think it is) is due to your doing useful things like search, not space tourism. Come back to earth. Get back to work.

(OK, OK. Gibberish about whacked-out convergence aside, the deal does have some merit. As stated in the Merc:

The space agency collects and stores massive amounts of data from its various space probes and missions. Google is adept at taking massive amounts of information, sorting it and making it available to the public.

``This is an amazing and proud day,'' said Scott Pace, director of the NASA Ames Research Center.

``Aside from Google being on your desktop everyday, what they do in information technology is crucial to organizing information. And NASA is drowning in information, and we welcome someone who can help with this technological challenge.''

Google, meanwhile, will get access to the scientists who manage one of the world's most powerful supercomputers -- a 10,000-processor machine called Project Columbia. Although Google will probably not have direct access to the government-owned computer, its engineers will be able to discuss supercomputing design with NASA engineers. That could help the company with its efforts to create products such as 3-D maps.

Google will also gain access to NASA's space data and imagery. Google already uses satellite imagery in its Google Maps service and for its Google Earth software. Google could enhance the imagery with data about temperatures or crop patterns, said Peter Norvig, director of search quality at Google.

This, at least, starts to make business sense. Last time I checked, Google was still a business....