Google takes over Moffett Field
The competition heats up: Google subsidiary Planetary Ventures has signed a $1 billion 60-year lease with NASA for use of Moffett Field in California.
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The competition heats up: Google subsidiary Planetary Ventures has signed a $1 billion 60-year lease with NASA for use of Moffett Field in California.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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The named management company is “Planetary Ventures LLC”. Was “Planetary Resources” as a subsidiary a slip on your part, ….or have things changed there, without me hearing about it? I know Paige and Ericson are on the BoD, but last I heard they were independent of Google.
My mistake, now corrected. I misread, inserting “Resources” where I read “Ventures” since that is what my brain expected.
As for whether this company is independent of Google, the news articles don’t seem to think so. They all describe it as a subsidiary of Google.
I think a few comments are in order.
1. NASA Ames got saddled with management of Moffett Federal Airfield because the Navy (Moffett NAS) and Air Force (Onizuka AFB) pulled out due to base closures. As a result, management of the field then went to NASA’s budget.
2. Through its subsidiary H211, Google offered in 2011 to pay to to re-skin the historic Hangar One; but NASA turned it down at the time. For additional insights, see http://www.nuqu.org/20111209/1332/
In addition to Google’s proposal (i.e., Planetary Venture’s), a couple of other proposals were submitted with a view toward maintaining the aerospace legacy of Moffett Field while pointing toward the future. I hope and trust that Google is open to working with the small, inventive aerospace start-ups in the Silicon Valley area.