For 8 years, Google's satellites have not mapped an obscure area of ​​Nevada where there is an experimental military site – and nothing explains why.

• Google Earth has not updated its satellite image of an experimental military base in southwestern Nevada for eight years, according to a report from Motherboard.

• The eight-year period of images of the Tonopah test range is the longest period without updating a part of the continental United States.

• Google would not answer the questions of the motherboard about the reasons for the existence of the "Tonopah gap".

• Questions remain about the gap, especially if Google was working directly with the US government to limit these images from its site.

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A report released Thursday on a motherboard revealed that for eight years, Google Earth had not updated its satellite image of a military site where experimental weapons had been tested in southwestern Nevada – and the company did not explain why.

It is a series of dry lake beds in the Tonopah test range, where military weapons tests have been carried out on a large scale. Between 2008 and 2016, Google has not updated the satellite imagery of this region, which is the longest period in which part of the continental United States has remained un-updated, according to Motherboard.

According to a Google Earth blog, updates take place every 30 days.

Motherboard was able to purchase a satellite image of Tonopah's dry lake beds taken in January 2013 (which is almost halfway between the past eight years). The publication planned to sell the image to Google for US $ 1 to determine if the company would add it to its records. If Google did not, Motherboard thought, it might indicate that government censorship was at stake in this part of Nevada at that time.

However, Motherboard later learned that she had not legally "rented" the image and could not sell it to Google. Instead, he will show the picture in Brooklyn during an event on Thursday night.

Google has never answered the question of the motherboard about the reasons for the existence of the "Tonopah gap".

The main questions about this story remain, including:

• Why do not satellite images from the Tonopah test range exist for eight years?

• In the United States, there are other weapons testing facilities that have never been there for so long without updating. What differentiates Tonopah?

• Did Google work directly with the US government to limit these images from its site? And if so, why?

Google did not immediately return Business Insider's comment request.

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