Climate change is now a problem for the entire solar system. On Friday, wildfires in Spain passed one of three observatories used by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration to connect 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 dozens of flames burned out of control near Madrid, with 60,000 people ordered to evacuate. The affected area includes Robledo de Chavela, a municipality close to the NASA-owned Deep Space Communications Complex.
Dramatic images taken by news photographers showed the radio telescopes surrounded by smoke and flames. A NASA spokesperson said in an email to WIRED that the agency successfully evacuated all personnel.
They added that although the fire has passed through the observatory, it is not yet clear what effect the flames may have had on the sensitive items inside. “Any potential damage will be assessed if it is safe to do so,” said the spokesperson. They added that if conditions permit, the site inspection could take place as soon as Saturday.
In the meantime, NASA said it has “seamlessly transitioned mission support to the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California, ensuring continued service and uninterrupted support for space communications.”
The Spanish center, along with others in Canberra, Australia, and Goldstone, California, form what NASA calls “the world’s largest and most sensitive science communications system.” The network allows NASA to transmit information from Earth to space, including the most distant man-made object in our solar system, Voyager 1. It is also used to transmit data from the James Webb Space Telescope and send commands to other spacecraft. Oh, and the sites also contribute to radio astronomy. Suffice it to say, it’s a very important set of instruments for understanding the solar system.
Spain is far from the only country facing a bushfire problem. Flames are also burning out of control in France, where beachgoers saw the sky turn orange and waves of ash wash ashore as firefighters battled to keep the flames from spreading in the little-known capital of the Bordeaux wine region.
“We learned during the afternoon that, following a change in the wind, it has become a large self-contained fire that is very difficult to control,” French interior minister Laurent Nunez told national TV channel Tf1. “Now we’re heading east, towards the city of Bordeaux. We’re going to reorganize our response so we can fight it on the ground and prevent it from going any further.”
An estimated 200,000 people have been told to leave both countries.
Europe has seen record high temperatures this summer, driven by repeated heatwaves over the continent and the UK, as well as climate change. Hot weather can dry out vegetation, prompting forests to burn from a stray spark. Similar stories have played out in other parts of the world recently, from Ontario, Canada, to the US Pacific Northwest.
Cooler weather is expected to reach the Mediterranean over the weekend, 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, eventually reaching 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal. That could fuel any wildfires in Spain or France that may still be burning—or help start new ones.
