One of NASA’s most important Deep Space Observatories Hit by Spanish Wildfires

Climate change has now become a problem for the entire solar system. On Friday, a wildfire in Spain passed through one of the three sites that the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration uses to communicate with space, including. Voyager 1James Webb Space Telescope, recently completed The work of Artemis around the Moon.

Spain declared a wildfire emergency after several blazes burned near Madrid, ordering the evacuation of 60,000 people. Areas affected include Robledo de Chavela, a municipality near the Deep Space Communications Complex operated by NASA.

Dramatic pictures taken by news photographers showed radio telescopes engulfed in smoke and flames. A NASA spokesperson said in an email to WIRED that the agency successfully evacuated all people.

He added that although the fire has passed through the observation deck, it is still unclear how the fire affected the equipment inside. “Anything that can be damaged will be assessed as to whether it is safe to do so,” the spokesman said. They add that if conditions allow, site inspections can be done on Saturday as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, NASA said it has “continuously improved operations support at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California, ensuring operational efficiency and continued support for space communications.”

Locations in Spain, along with others in Canberra, Australia, and Goldstone, California, make up what NASA calls “the largest and most complex form of scientific communication in the world.” The network allows NASA to send data from Earth to space, including the most distant human-made object in our solar system, Voyager 1. It is also used to transfer data from James Webb Space Telescope and sending commands to other air vehicles. Oh, and these sites also help with radio astronomy. Suffice it to say, it’s a very important set of tools for understanding the solar system.

Spain is the only country facing the problem of wildfires. Wildfires are also raging in France, where beachgoers saw skies turn orange and waves of ash wash ashore as firefighters battled to contain the blaze in the famed wine region capital of Bordeaux.

“We heard in the middle of the afternoon that, due to the movement of the wind, it turned into a huge, self-extinguishing fire that is very difficult to control,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said. he told national television Tf1. “Now it’s moving east, towards the Bordeaux city area. We’re going to reorganize what we need to deal with it and stop it from going forward.”

Almost 200,000 people they have been told to move across the two countries.

Europe has seen high profile heat this summer, led by repeated heat domes camping on the continent and the UK, and climate change. Hot weather can dry out vegetation, causing forests to burn when struck by lightning. Similar stories have been happening in other parts of the world recently, from Ontario, Canadain the US Pacific Northwest.

Cold weather is expected to reach the Mediterranean by the end of the week, which should help firefighters tackle the blaze. But the respite will be short-lived: Temperatures are expected to rise again on Monday and continue to rise throughout the week, reaching 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal. This could increase wildfires in Spain or France that may still be burning, or help start new ones.