The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, has recently added new higher resolution images and multimedia content to the Google Moon website. Updated information includes panoramic images, links to audio and video clips, and descriptions of the astronauts’ activities, all of which are from the Apollo space missions. The site also features detailed charts of various regions of the moon “suitable for use by anyone simulating a lunar mission,” according to the agency.

“NASA’s objective is for Google Moon to become a more accurate and useful lunar mapping platform that will be a foundation for future web-based moon applications, much like the many applications that have been built on top of Google Maps,” said Chris C. Kemp, director of strategic business development at NASA’s Ames Research Center. “This will make it easier for scientists everywhere to make lunar data more available and accessible.”

The site update is part of an ongoing partnership between NASA and Google, under a Space Act Agreement signed in December 2006. NASA has also added photographs, taken from their Earth observing satellite sensors, to Google Earth.

Explore the moon at http://www.google.com/moon.