Spanish Wildfires Hit One of NASA’s Most Important Deep Space Observatories

Climate change has now become a problem for the entire solar system. On Friday, wildfires in Spain overran one of three observatories NASA uses to communicate with spacecraft, including Voyager 1, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the recently completed Artemis mission around the Moon.

Spain declared a wildfire emergency as multiple blazes burned out of control near Madrid, with evacuation orders for 60,000 people. The affected area includes Robledo de Chavela, where the NASA Deep Space Communications Complex is located.

Dramatic images showed radio telescopes surrounded by smoke and fire. A NASA spokesperson told WIRED that all personnel were successfully evacuated. While the fire has passed through the complex, it remains unclear what impact it had on sensitive equipment. "Any potential damage will be assessed when it is safe to do so," the spokesperson said, adding that a site assessment could happen as soon as Saturday if conditions allow.

For now, NASA has "seamlessly transitioned support for mission operations to the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California, ensuring continuity of service and uninterrupted support for spacecraft communications."

The facility in Spain, along with those in Canberra, Australia, and Goldstone, California, make up what NASA calls the "largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunications system in the world." The network transmits information from Earth to spacecraft, including the most distant human-made object in our solar system, Voyager 1. It is also used to transfer data from the James Webb Space Telescope and send commands to other space vehicles, and contributes to radio astronomy observations.

Spain is far from the only country facing a wildfire crisis. Fires are also burning out of control in France, where beachgoers saw skies turn orange and waves of ash wash ashore. French interior minister Laurent Nunez said the fire is moving east toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area, and response is being reorganized.

Approximately 200,000 people in total have been evacuated across the two countries. Europe has seen record high temperatures this summer, driven by repeated heat domes and climate change. Hot weather dries vegetation, priming forests to burn. Similar situations have occurred in other parts of the world recently, from Ontario, Canada, to the US Pacific Northwest.

Cooler weather is expected in the Mediterranean over the weekend, which should help firefighters. However, the respite will be short: temperatures are expected to rise again on Monday and continue climbing throughout the week, reaching up to 10 degrees Celsius above normal, potentially worsening any remaining fires or sparking new ones.