Google gains control of Moffett Field

The line between Google and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration blurred a little further this week. On Monday NASA announced that control of Moffett Field and Hangar One should soon be turned over to a company, known as Planetary Ventures, which the search giant controls.

NASA and Google are friendly neighbors (see map) but they do far more than borrow cups of sugar and store Larry Page’s private planes. As Google has grown, it leased 42 acres on a 40 year lease from NASA to build office space. But it has also been working closer with the agency — or replacing it — on much more ambitious adventures.

Google is working with NASA on perfecting D-Wave’s quantum computer. These near-future machines manipulate quantum mechanics — with “qubits” — which store data in multiple values, rather than the typical 1?s and 0?s of computers today.

The idea is those many possible combinations will accelerate computing power beyond our wildest dreams. Astrophysics is hard enough, so a supercomputer helping chart the most complicated problems of the universe is of great interest. But it’s also pretty important for a company trying to organize the world’s information.

Read More: http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/02/11/google-gais-control-of-moffett-field/