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The forest fires currently burning in parts of Southern California are not only visible from space, they threaten the work of scientists. in space too.
It was supposed to be NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena was evacuated on January 8 and was closed until Monday due to the Eaton fire. The research center has escaped the flames so far. Even if it’s urgent It broke JPL’s processing of some data and, according to social media posts, greatly affected the JPL community, the Deep Space Network was able to communicate with all active spacecraft during the evacuation.
JPL was spared fire “thanks to the courageous sacrifice of our first responders. But our community has been hit very hard with more than 150 JPL members who have lost their homes and many more displaced,” JPL Director Laurie Leshin said. He wrote in X on friday. A JPL Facebook administrator confirmed the sad situation comment on sunday. Most employees have been asked to work from home this week, and administrators are back to work relief fund For the Caltech and JPL communities.
UPDATE: @NASAJPL thanks to the brave sacrifice of our first responders, it was not exposed to fire. But our community has been severely impacted with over 150 JPL employees losing their homes and more displaced. Please consider offering support here: https://t.co/PGpNj2Z1Zf
— Laurie Leshin (@LaurieofMars) January 10, 2025
JPL is a federally funded robotic space research laboratory operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) on behalf of NASA. It is also the home of the agency Deep Space Network (DSN), a network of giant radio antennas used to communicate with space missions. Created in the late 1950s and early 1960s, NASA’s DSN currently communicates with the Voyager probes, the Mars probes, and the Juno probes around Jupiter. The Space Flight Operations Center at JPL “has been operational and staffed every day since 1964.” according to to NASA.
according to evacuation notice Posted on the lab’s website Wednesday, “JPL facilities, laboratories, and equipment are protected and protected. Deep Space Network operations normally performed at JPL have been moved to a backup operations center. In a bit of good news, the DSN team made contact with their spacecraft during the evacuation. Space.com.
“Our incredible DSN team went above and beyond to ensure that no data was lost,” NASA Associate Administrator Nicola Fox said at the American Astronomical Society’s 245th meeting in Maryland this week. Space.com. “It was a very emotional thing, for the first time in 60 years there was no one in the mission control office at JPL because they had to move to the emergency center.”
Unfortunately, the evacuation of the research center resulted in some breach of data processingincluding some Near real time (NRT) data (data obtained shortly after being recorded by a spacecraft), Soil moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) platform regularly measures surface soil conditions and information Microwave Oven Speaker Twice-daily measuring atmospheric properties (MLS).
While it’s a relief for the scientific community that JPL is unscathed, it remains to be seen how the lab will handle the strengthening dry winds. is forecast to last until Wednesday.
