Lunar News Network

NASA & Google Team Up

NASA is helping Google with the moon project (News.com - NASA lifts Google Moon):

NASA said Tuesday that it has added new lunar imagery to Google's Moon Web site, a photographic display of the moon with information graphics about the Apollo landings. The additions are part of an ongoing partnership between NASA and Google, which signed a Space Act agreement in December 2006 to work on Web projects together.

Google The Universe

With one new service announced today, Google may have done more to promote public support for space exploration than all of NASA's PR efforts to date (TechNewsWorld - 2007: A Google Space Odyssey):

Google Earth now includes much more than just images of our planet -- its new feature Sky lets users view 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies. Sky also features several informational layers that focus on particular events and celestial bodies. For example, the Backyard Astronomy layer is designed to help amateur astronomers learn about particular areas of the night sky.

Don't forget to tour Google Moon to take a look at our next stop in the great human tour of the galaxy.

NASA Twitters, Part 3

Here is some more info on NASA's new plan to promote public awareness and inspire support using new communication tools (The Space Review - NASA’s new outreach plan) and social networking sites:

The document also describes how NASA plans to implement the plan and communicate those messages to the public. That effort will be linked with NASA’s year-long celebration, starting this October, of its 50th anniversary (the agency was officially created on October 1, 1958.) The core message and related themes will be used in a variety of 50th anniversary events, including a series of “NASA Future Forums” around the country: one-day conferences about the role of innovation in economic development, in particular the role NASA plays. Also in the works are a lecture series, new public service announcements, and targeted outreach to state and local leaders linked to upcoming shuttle missions.

Online media will also play a role in this outreach effort. According to the document, NASA is in the process of redesigning its web site to leverage a suite of technologies and techniques collectively known as “Web 2.0” that emphasize communication and collaboration among users. The new web site will include dynamic, customizable content; “social bookmarks” akin to web sites like Digg and del.icio.us; and the ability for the public to comment on NASA content. The document also mentions the creation of a “NASATube” and “NASApedia”, presumably similar to the video-sharing site YouTube and editable encyclopedia Wikipedia, respectively.

Good ideas, all. I joined a NASA group on Facebook. There were several and I joined the one that looked the most official, though it was hard to tell really. I've still had no luck with Twitter, does anyone know how NASA is making use of Twitter?

NASA Twitters, Part 2

This post is prompted by my previous post about NASA launching new efforts to use social networking sites and emerging technology to connect to a younger demographic and build support for the space program. This CNET report (Next NASA mission: Twitter and Facebook) notes not only the use of Twitter, but also Second Life, Facebook, and blogs to reach more people. According to the report:

CoLab, NASA's Collaborative Space Exploration Laboratory, hosted a one-day tech event called the Participatory Exploration Summit, which brought together representatives from across the space agency, as well as from Twitter, Creative Commons and game companies like Virtual Heroes and Virtue Arts. CoLab's sole purpose is to foster partnerships between the space program and tech entrepreneurs, and then develop novel applications and make use of NASA resources.

I applaud these efforts as well as the general vision of making NASA resources available to programmers and gamers to incorporate into their products to boost not only realism, but greater awareness and appreciation for exploration themes. These new technologies allow people to use NASA resources in a way that previous generations never experienced. For the public, space exploration has always been a spectator sport, now, thanks to social networking sites and new video and remote links, people have a chance to personally participate in this great adventure. I don't think we can underestimate the value of personal participation in building support for space exploration. Good job, NASA!

NASA Twitters

According to the Daily Galaxy blog, NASA is using the Twitter social networking site to boost the popularity of space exploration. Whatever helps, I guess. I was a bit annoyed though that the post didn't actually give us the NASA twitter name so we could add them as friends we are following, if we wanted to be friends with NASA. Anyone know what it is?

Google NASA

Thanks to a collaboration between Google and NASA, the Moon and Mars may be as close as your desktop (Guardian Unlimited - Nasa signs deal with Google to put data online):

Interactive video from the moon, Mars and elsewhere could one day be available at the click of a mouse after Nasa signed an agreement with Google to post its vast trove of images and data online. [...] Nasa officials said Google's technical expertise, as well as its popularity, will help spread excitement and knowledge about space and about Nasa's plans to go back to the moon and on to Mars.

Moon Shots

Space.com: The Moon photographed in various shapes, sizes and colors, as seen through the telescopes of Space.com readers

Questions Answered

The Houston Chronicle asks if you have questions about the space program and their SciGuy will provide the answers.

Science Blogs

Spring fever and an academic conference have taken a toll on my blogging, as you may have noticed, but I do hope to get back to it now, at least an occasional post now and then as time permits. Here is a link that reflects my interest in education and science. LiveScience has created LiveScienceBlogs, which they hope will be an informative and interactive way for members to tell them what they think as well as to participate in the quest for knowledge. They have one blog category devoted to space and astronomy and they plan to invite guest bloggers from the scientific community to participate in all the blogs. It should be a good source for science news and commentary.

Google Mars

Thank you to Google Mars for helping people imagine planetary exploration. I know, I don't usually post Mars reports here, but I'll make an exception in this case. The more we get people excited about going to Mars the more we can get people excited about the Vision for Space Exploration. Thanks, Google!

Google Space

CNN is reporting that Google is teaming with NASA to do something or other (CNN - Google gets some NASA space) to promote the space program, which seems rather important given that it's Google.

Google Honors the Moon Landings

If you have visited the Google search site today, you may have noticed some new graphics designed to honor the Apollo moon landing. According to their special announcement:

In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, we’ve added some NASA imagery to the Google Maps interface to help you pay your own visit to our celestial neighbor. Happy lunar surfing. More about Google Moon.

Thank you Google for helping to focus attention on past lunar landings while we look forward to those still in the future.

Latest Lunar Images

The BBC has a report (Lunar probe's amazing new images) on the latest images returned from the Smart-1 probe. The goal is to create a full map of the lunar surface.

Lunar Jobs
On this day of April foolishness, Google has posted an employment announcement seeking those interested in working on the Moon. Thank you Google for your foresight, and don't forget to shield the Googlunaplex from the harmful effects of radiation, which tends to corrupt code, both digital and biological.

NASA Sets Web Mark - FCW.com
Due to extremely high public interest in NASA's Mars exploration program, the space agency's Web portal has received more than 6.5 billion hits since early January. According to NASA officials, this makes the Mars program the most popular federal event in Internet history.