Editor’s update: While this [collaboration] announcement will still happen, NASA ARC PAO now says it has been delayed until a date that has been “mutually agreed upon by NASA and Google.”
As for what this announcement will be about, Romyn in the comments makes a good case for it being iEarth, as written up by New Scientist:
Called iEarth, the NASA software scours EOS databanks for information and converts it into a file that can be viewed via Google Earth. Choosing a spot on the planet’s surface will prompt iEarth to display ground-based measurements for that location, as well as data relating to the atmosphere and space above it.
It’s due in April, says NASA. Maybe Google didn’t want to pre-announce, or else iEarth is being rebranded YouEarth:-) (Via tobedetermined!)
[Update 20:56 UTC: Keith Cowing’s “Editor’s update” on NASA Watch is even better:
While this announcement will still happen, NASA ARC PAO now says it has been delayed until a date that has been “mutually agreed upon by NASA and Google.”. ARC PAO”s Laura Lewis also chided me for posting an internal memo. I guess it did not occur to her that sending an email to several thousand people about a “kick off event” is tantamount to announcing it publicly since the memos get forwarded almost instantly. Indeed, that’s the point of such widely distributed emails in the first place – messages that carry no admonition about further dissemination.
Moral of the story: Don’t ever, ever tell bloggers anything that is not for blogging without telling them it is not for blogging:-)]
So the question is:
Will 3rd parties (read World Wind) which were developed by NASA have access to the underlying raw data?
My tax-supported space agency can’t be expected to coordinate a “major” announcement with Google while simultaneously keeping Sweden’s first astronaut aloft.
The Swedes are grateful, though.