Google has announced a partnership with NASA to carry out space-age research at a massive new research centre at a former military air base in Silicon Valley.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google's billionaire founders, have reputedly long shown an interest in space programmes. Among the ideas once reportedly considered for investment by Google was the construction of a "space elevator" to transport people into orbit by means of a 38,000km conveyor belt.

The internet search and advertising giant will now build a 1 million-square-foot complex of offices and accommodation at the NASA Research Park at Moffett Field and will join forces with scientists from the US space agency. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The government research centre, now known as NASA Ames, was founded in 1939. It played a role in the design of World War II fighter planes before being used for research on the Apollo space programme.

The collaboration between NASA and Google will "couple some of the Earth’s most powerful technology resources," officials from both operations said in a statement.

A pact signed by Google and NASA outlines areas of cooperation including large-scale data management and "massively distributed computing".

Massively distributed computing allows researchers to exploit the power of millions of PCs belonging to volunteers which are connected to the internet. Such systems have been used to explore cures for cancer and to map out the human genome.

Scott Hubbard, the director of the NASA Ames Centre said: "Our planned partnership presents an enormous range of potential benefits to the space program."

Researchers will collaborate in areas including new materials, "supercomputing, data mining, and bringing entrepreneurs into the space programme," he added.

Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said: "Google and NASA share a common desire to bring a universe of information to people around the world."

The company will keep its current "Googleplex" headquarters, which are a few minutes drive from the NASA facility.

"While our joint efforts will benefit both organisations, the real winner will be the American public," Mr Hubbard said.

Earlier this month Google prompted speculation over its future plans when it sold shares worth $4.2 billion in a secondary stockmarket offering. The company now has a cash pile of around $7 billion.

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