Google is renting more than 400 hectares of a historic California air base for space exploration, aviation and robotics projects.
NASA says a Google subsidiary will pay $US1.16 billion ($A1.26 billion) in rent over 60 years for the property.
It's part of Moffett Airfield, a former US Navy air base in the San Francisco Bay Area that's also the home of NASA's Ames Research Centre.
Google will manage the property, a local landmark, which includes a working airfield, private golf course and a massive hangar that was built to house dirigible-style Navy airships in the 1930s.
The move should allow Google to conduct more testing closer to its California headquarters.
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Issues accessing US airspace prompted the company to test experimental delivery drones in the Queensland outback this year.
