Google has taken a 60-year lease on a Nasa airfield next to its Silicon Valley headquarters as it pushes deeper into researching areas like space exploration and vehicles capable of navigating other planets.
谷歌(Google)签署了一份租用其硅谷总部旁边一个美国国家航空航天局(Nasa)下属机场60年的合约。谷歌正深入许多研究领域,比如太空探索和能飞行至其他行星的飞行器。
The lease includes a commitment to spend $200m on the facilities at the Moffett airfield, including renovating a gigantic, historic airship hangar that has become a prominent local landmark.
这份租约的内容包括,承诺对莫菲特(Moffett)机场的设施投资2亿美元,比如要对一个体积巨大、具有历史意义的飞机库进行翻新。该飞机库已成为当地一处著名地标。
Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, along with chairman Eric Schmidt, have had an agreement with Nasa for some time to use the airfield as a base for their private jets.
谷歌创始人拉里•佩奇(Larry Page)和塞吉•布林(Sergey Brin),以及董事长埃里克•施密特(Eric Schmidt),此前已同Nasa签订了一份协议,在一段时间内使用莫菲特作为他们私人飞机的基地。
The space agency rejected an offer to pay for the renovation of Moffett’s Hangar One, which stands some 200 feet high, in return for allowing Google executives to house their planes in the building, opting instead to run a competitive tender for facilities last year.
此前Nasa拒绝了谷歌支付翻新莫菲特机场一号飞机库的费用的提议,但允许谷歌高管将私人飞机停靠在该机场,并在去年提出对机场设施翻新项目进行招标。
Announcing a deal with Google on Monday, Nasa said the Moffett facilities would be used for “research, development, assembly and testing in the areas of space exploration, aviation, rover/robotics and other emerging technologies”.
Nasa周一宣布与谷歌达成租约时表示,莫菲特机场设施将被用于“太空探索、航空、月球车/机器人等新兴科技领域的研究、开发、装配和试验。”
Google has not disclosed any plans of its own to engage in interplanetary exploration, though it has offered a $20m prize for any private mission before the end of next year that can land a robot on the moon, travel 500 meters and send back images.
谷歌没有披露自己参与星际探索的任何计划,但设立了2000万美元奖项,用于奖励在明年底之前实现机器人登陆月球、行走500米并发回图像的任何民间项目。
The lease will bring in $1.16bn in rents over its 60-year life and save $6.3m a year in operating costs, Nasa said on Monday. The agency and a Google real estate subsidiary called Planetary Resources first reached a tentative deal for the airfield in February, though terms were not disclosed at the time.
Nasa周一表示,这份租约将在60年内带来11.6亿美元租金收入,每年节省运行成本达630万美元。今年2月,Nasa首先与谷歌的房地产业务子公司行星资源(Planetary Resources)达成了一项租用莫菲特机场的初步协议,不过当时没有披露协议条款。
Sitting alongside Google’s headquarters, Moffett has already become a focus of the company’s attention as it outgrows its campus and spreads into nearby neighbourhoods in Mountain View and Palo Alto. Besides using it for the private planes of its top executives, Google has already agreed to lease part of the land to extend its facilities.
除了把莫菲特机场作为谷歌顶级高管的私人飞机基地外,谷歌还将租用机场部分土地以扩建其设施。
The three hangars and the airstrip covered by the latest lease include 1,000 acres of land alongside San Francisco Bay, part of which is used as a private golf course.
最新租约涵盖的三个飞机库和跑道,包括旧金山湾(San Francisco Bay)沿岸的1000英亩土地。其中部分土地上目前坐落着一个私人高尔夫球场。