Climate change has now become a problem for the entire solar system. Fires in Spain on Friday took hold of one of three observatories used by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration to communicate with spacecraft, including Voyager 1, the James Webb Space Telescope and the recently completed Artemis mission around the moon.
Spain declared a fire emergency as multiple fires burned out of control near Madrid and 60,000 people were ordered to evacuate. The affected area includes Robledo de Chavela, a commune near the NASA-run space communications intricate.
Dramatic images captured by photojournalists showed radio telescopes surrounded by smoke and fire. A NASA spokesperson said in an email to WIRED that the agency successfully evacuated all personnel.
They added that while the fire had already ripped through the observatory intricate, it was unclear what effect the flames may have had on sensitive equipment inside. “Any potential harm will be assessed when it is safe to do so,” the spokesman said. They add that if conditions allow, the site assessment may take place as early as Saturday.
For now, NASA said it has “seamlessly transitioned support for mission operations to the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California, ensuring continuity of services and uninterrupted support for spacecraft communications.”
The facility in Spain, along with others in Canberra, Australia, and Goldstone, California, make up what NASA is calling “the largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunications system in the world.” The network allows NASA to transmit information from Earth to spacecraft, 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 these places also contribute to radio astronomy observations. Suffice it to say that this is a very significant set of instruments for understanding the solar system.
Spain is not the only country struggling with a wildfire crisis. Fires are also burning out of control in France, where beachgoers saw the sky turn orange and waves of ash wash ashore as firefighters worked to stop the flames from spreading to the eponymous capital of the Bordeaux wine region.
“In the middle of the afternoon we learned that due to a change in the wind, it had turned into a large, self-sustaining fire that was extremely difficult to control,” said French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said national TV channel Tf1. “It is now moving east towards the Bordeaux metropolitan area. We intend to reorganize our response so that we can fight it from the ground and prevent its advance.”
More or less 200,000 people evacuations were ordered in both countries.
Record high temperatures have been recorded across Europe this summer, driven by recurring heat domes camping over the continent and the UK, as well as climate change. Scorching weather can parched out vegetation, causing forests to burn from an errant spark. Similar stories have occurred recently in other parts of the world, from Ontario, Canada, to the Pacific Northwest in the US.
Cooler weather is expected to reach the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend, which should support firefighters contain the flames. But the respite will be tiny: Temperatures are expected to soar again on Monday and continue to rise throughout the week, eventually reaching as much as 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal. This could worsen any fires in Spain or France that are still burning, or support spark fresh ones.