In its latest business expansion, internet giant Google has signed a
60-year lease to run a NASA airbase to expand research into space exploration
and robotics.
Google subsidiary Planetary Ventures
plans to use the historic Moffett Field in Silicon Valley that comes with
massive hangars for dirigibles. The field is located on the southern end of San
Francisco Bay just a 10-minute drive from the Googleplex headquarters in
Mountain View.
A NASA press release said the site will
be used for "research, development, assembly and testing in the areas of
space exploration, aviation, rover/robotics and other emerging
technologies".
For NASA, the sale offers rich pickings
- the agreement will provide it with $1.16bn in rent over the initial 60-year
lease term.
Last year Google put on hold a project
for a new set of offices at the NASA Research Park, halfway between the airport
and Google`s headquarters.
The field has been controlled for years
by the US space agency, which said it will be saving $6.3 million a year in
maintenance costs by leasing it out.
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