Wildfire forces evacuation of NASA's Deep Space Network complex in Spain

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西班牙野火逼近NASA"太空热线"，深度空间网络被迫紧急疏散！这次出事的可不是普通基站，而是位于马德里郊外的深空通讯站——它是NASA在全球仅有的三个"太空电话总机"之一，与加州、澳大利亚的姐妹站轮流值守，确保地球旋转时随时能跟月亮、火星、甚至飞了46年的旅行者号保持通话。周五野火突然烧到天线阵列附近，70米高的大锅和34米小天线旁浓烟滚滚，工作人员全部撤离，通讯暂时中断。这会对我们的生活有什么影响？说实话，普通人几乎感觉不到——毕竟我们刷手机导航、看天气预报用的不是这个网络。但它直接关乎NASA的40多个重大任务：詹姆斯·韦伯望远镜正在传回宇宙图像，阿尔忒弥斯登月计划需要导航，旅行者正往星际空间飞。好消息是，全球还有加州和澳洲两个站点可以接力，短时间中断不会让这些任务"失联"。不过野火蔓延速度很快，如果西班牙站受损严重，未来一段时间某些深空探测器的数据传输可能会减速。这次事件再次提醒我们，连NASA这样的顶尖机构也怕天灾——当太空探索和森林大火"面对面"时，人类还是得先保住地面上的安全。

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.Read full article Comments