It's good to be the Googlers. Part of Larry Page and Sergey Brin's sweetheart deal to park their fleet of private jets at Nasa's Ames Research Center involves letting the space agency use their Gulfstream V for so-called "scientific experiments." What that really means: Getting a front-row seat for some really bitchin' real-time space porn. A European space freighter, full of trash from the International Space Station, was sent down from orbit to burn up in the atmosphere early this morning over the Pacific Ocean. A Gulfstream owned by H211 LLC, the flight-operating company through which Larry and Sergey own their party planes, participated in observing the event. "It was decided to postpone the reentry by three weeks so that the reentry would happen at nighttime for best viewing conditions," two researchers wrote in an article on Space.com. That raises one key question.Were Larry and Sergey aboard the Gulfstream? If so, someone ought to tell Google shareholders that the companies' cofounders were in close proximity to a flaming fireball. And someone ought to tell American taxpayers that Nasa is now scheduling its missions around the viewing requirements of loopy billionaires. (Illustration by the European Space Agency)

The laptops up on the International Space Station have been infected with a virus — the W32.Gammima.AG worm, to be precise — which raises an interesting challenge: How do you wipe a computer clean when you're 217 miles away from Earth and moving at 17,000+ miles per hour? According to the BBC, the ISS isn't net-connected. All data is subject to scan before transmission upstairs. So the laptops were probably infected via flash drive before they left. The worm itself doesn't threaten the station — all it wants is your gaming passwords — and the laptops aren't connected to mission-critical computers. But the lack of an Internet connection makes fixing things tricky.The solution to the problem is the same one you would use for your grandma who refuses to get off of her 56K connection. Pack a free version of AVG and their update files onto a flash drive and talk them through the installation and cleaning process. Don't forget the part where they owe you a beer or dinner for helping them out. You have plenty of time to plan — the next supply run is due to leave on or about November 10 from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. (Virus-protein image by Allen Portner and Gopal Murti)

How did wind energy startup Makani Power garner $10 million in investment from Google and space at the NASA-run Ames research center on Moffett Field? Through at least one convenient marriage and a shared passion for kite surfing, a tipster points out:

It's the 50th anniversary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, and Google's rolled out a commemorative logo. The graphic features the Voyager spacecraft, Mars and moon landing vehicles and the Mercury rocket. Not featured? Any of the aircraft in Larry and Sergey's party-plane fleet, which are parked at NASA's Moffett Field and allowed to take off and land from the publicly owned facility increasingly known for private privilege.

"Today's solstice marks the northernmost point of the Sun's annual motion through planet Earth's sky and the astronomical beginning of the northern hemisphere's summer. But only two days ago, the Full Moon nearest the solstice rose close to the ecliptic plane opposite the Sun, near its southernmost point for the year. Astronomer Anthony Ayiomamitis recorded this dramatic picture of the solstice Full Moon rising above Cape Sounion, Greece."

Google's announcement today of a massive campus expansion was inevitable. Having taken over every last scrap of office park around it not occupied by neighbor Intuit, Google is expanding the Mountain View Googleplex to the west — and, more controversially, to the east, on land owned but poorly used by Nasa. Ignore the happy talk about Google and Nasa's scientific partnerships; those are an obvious fig leaf to cover the use of public land by a private entity. (Let's not even get started on Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt's sweetheart deal to park their party plane on Nasa grounds.) Google has grown to be a powerful employer in the Bay Area, and its wealthy executives donate freely to local politicians, so we should hardly expect the powers that be to stop it. What's good for Google is good for America, or so we'll be told.

Google finally announced details of its plans to build a new campus on property owned by Nasa at the space agency's Ames Research Center. The ongoing partnership with Nasa was first announced three years ago. The initial terms of the forty-year lease peg rent at $3.66 million a year, with adjustments to the rate based on property-value assessments and up to five 10-year extensions to the contract. Construction isn't due to begin until 2013, with Nasa approving any designs. Proposed amenities beyond office space on the 44-acre plot will include dining, day care and recreation facilities. Not to mention that the Googlejet, the party plane jointly owned by cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt, will be that much more conveniently parked at the Moffett Field spot that the troika already rents for $1.3 million. Their rental isn't part of the deal, but isn't it convenient that they can negotiate with the same helpful government officials to fill their needs for both work and play?

At the PSFK Conference in New York earlier today, NASA and auction site Etsy joined to invite the craftsmen who sell their goods on Etsy to compete to see who could make the best NASA-themed handmade good. "We'll send the two winners into space," Etsy founder Robert Kalin told the crowd. The crowd, along with News.com's Caroline McCarthy, took him at his word. Visions of a ride on Virgin Galactic took hold. Only to be dissolved. Because sadly, it turns out Etsy will not send any two people into space, but only their prize-winning goods. (Photo by pingnews.com)

If you're sick of exploring the big empty known as Second Life, NASA plans to open a virtual frontier for cybernauts. Convinced the only way to get kids to do anything these days is to shove a game in front of them, the Learning Technologies Project Office is developing a multiplayer online game that will simulate the space agency's real science and engineering missions. Will the game indoctrinate the next generation into signing up with NASA's moon colonization recruiting office, too?

NASA could learn a thing or two from open source software such as Linux and MySQL, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said yesterday, according to PC World. Speaking at event to mark the space agency's 50th anniversary yesterday, Schmidt told the crowd, "assume that you don't have all the answers." (If only Schmidt would apply that lesson to himself.)

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison sold $21.8 million worth of Oracle stock in a prearranged selloff. Maybe he can use some of that cash to strike a deal with NASA to park his jet at conveniently located, but normally off-limits to civilians, Moffett Field. [MarketWatch]

It occurs to us: Perhaps rocket scientists aren't as smart as they're cracked up to be?

It's a twofer today — ConFonz finds the hackers at EclipseCON 2006. Here's the wrap-up, either from ConFonz or from whatever script kiddy took over his laptop.

The world is not enough: All of Google's heavy petting with NASA will pay off when the two hop into bed.

We've always heard that the Space Shuttle operates on '70s technology, which makes sense when you consider the first launch happened when we were in elementary school. But what we didn't know until today — when we saw this picture and noted those terrible, gray-striped shirts, the even worse blue pants, and the hair on those two chicks — is that apparently NASA dresses its passengers like people in their 70s. In Florida.

Jesse: gotta say: i haven't watched a shuttle liftoff since, like, elementary school
Jessica: haha
Jesse: pretty cool
Jessica: when is it?
Jesse: just now
Jessica: oooh there it is
Jessica: cool
Jessica: so, so cool
Jesse: i'm feeling all proud to be an american, and whatnot
Jessica: i feel patriotic n shit
Jessica: hahahaha
Jesse: i should post this
Jessica: okay. indicate that our patriotism was simultaneous.
Jesse: i've always wanted to achieve simultaneous patriotism
Jessica: it's like we're in Kentucky.