Google takes over Moffett Field
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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.
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar to the right or below. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
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.
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.