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A fast-moving wildfire, one of many raging across Spain, bore down on the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex on Friday, forcing an evacuation and temporarily suspending operations at one of NASA’s most important tracking stations.
The tracking station is part of NASA’s Deep Space Network, operating in concert with similar facilities in California and Australia to provide global coverage as Earth’s rotation brings the planets, stars, and deep space probes in and out of view. The network supports more than 40 missions from the Moon to the edge of the Solar System, including Artemis, the James Webb Space Telescope, and NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft.
A NASA spokesperson confirmed the tracking station in Spain, located in the hills nearly 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of central Madrid, was evaluated Friday “due to ongoing wildfires in the region. Photos and video from the area showed flames and smoke plumes rising over the ground station’s antenna array, anchored by a 230-foot-diameter (70-meter) radio dish and a collection of smaller 112-foot (34-meter) antennas.
“Any potential damage will be assessed when it is safe to do so,” the spokesperson said in a statement. The Deep Space Network is managed by NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA officials are monitoring wildfires in the Madrid region in coordination with local authorities and the US Embassy.
“In the meantime, the agency 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 NASA spokesperson said.
High demand and short supply
NASA typically runs the Deep Space Network using a “follow the Sun” model, in which control centers at each DSN site in Australia, California, and Spain can remotely operate the entire network during local daytime hours. Antennas at each location operate around the clock.
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