Nasa hitches ride on Google jet

Scientists from Nasa took to the air in one of Google's corporate jets last night to study a meteor shower.

The Gulfstream V took off from Mineta San Jose International Airport yesterday packed with Nasa scientists and their equipment.

A 10-hour flight to the Arctic and back allowed the boffins to study the Quadrantids meteor shower currently hitting Earth.

At its peak the Quadrantids send 100 meteors an hour into the atmosphere, where they burn up and fall to Earth.

The trip was part of a special deal that Google has arranged with Nasa, which provoked some controversy in Silicon Valley.

Under the deal Google can park its three corporate jets at Nasa's Moffett Field which is officially closed to civilian air traffic.

However, it is just four miles from Google's headquarters so the company allows the jets to be used for scientific experiments by Nasa in exchange for parking space.

See also:

British team shoots for the moon

First challenger for Google Lunar X-Prize  07 Dec 2007

Nasa readies Dawn probe, again

Third time lucky for ill-fated probe  18 Sep 2007

UK boffins at heart of Mars climate study

Phoenix rises in August to test the Martian waters  27 Jul 2007

Nasa sends robots to the North Pole

Preparation for walking on the moon and Mars  23 Jul 2007

Orbiting X-ray telescopes watch galaxies collide

Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion ...  18 Jul 2007

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