NASA's Madrid Station Evacuated Amidst Major Forest Fire

Spanish security forces evacuated over ninety employees from NASA's facilities in Robledo de Chavela, Madrid, on Friday due to a large, uncontrolled wildfire raging through the region.

Lola Cadierno, the executive assistant at the NASA center, stated that while all evacuated personnel are safe, there is no confirmation of the flames reaching the space agency's installations. "We cannot confirm anything because we have no one inside. We only know what the media is reporting," Cadierno told Radiotelevisión Española. She expressed hope that the Deep Space Communications Complex would remain unaffected, warning that any damage "would be catastrophic for everyone."

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We cannot confirm anything because we have no one inside. We only know what the media is reporting.

The fire has forced the evacuation or displacement of approximately 50,000 people from several southwestern Madrid towns. The blaze is advancing rapidly, exacerbated by strong winds and high temperatures.

Cadierno explained that the Madrid facility is part of NASA's global network for tracking deep space missions, alongside stations in California and Canberra, Australia. "It would be a catastrophe if one of them fails, because deep space mission tracking is done 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and tracking could not be done in this part of the world," she argued. The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC), operated by Spain's National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) in collaboration with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), is vital for maintaining constant contact with spacecraft, regardless of Earth's rotation. Its antennas have supported missions like the Curiosity rover on Mars, the Juno mission to Jupiter, and the Kepler and James Webb space telescopes.

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It would be a catastrophe if one of them fails, because the tracking of deep space missions is done 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and tracking could not be done in this part of the world.