Wildfires in California are having an impact on the mission to Mars
(NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory photo)
PASADENA, Calif. - The wildfires in California impacted so many across the country.
We're learning the widespread damage created issues far outside America, too. Problems that range as far as the surface of Mars.
Mission to Mars stunted by wildfires?
What we know:
Inside NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, they run a deep space network which connects many researchers across the world - including some at ASU - to the many space missions in our solar system.
For the first time ever earlier this month, that room was evacuated.
The inauguration speech laid out an out of this world goal: "Plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars."
But NASA's scientific missions came to a halt this month on Mars because of a wildfire in California.
Arizona connections to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab
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Dr. Laurie Leshin: Meet the ASU alum who leads NASA's JPL
How close are we to knowing if we're alone in the universe? The scientists that might discover the answer are being led by a woman who grew up right here in the Valley and has been a big part of ASU for decades. Now she's setting her sights past Arizona and into the stars. FOX 10’s Steve Nielsen got a rare look inside NASA's largest center on the West Coast to see how we'll try to find alien life.
What they're saying:
"It was so fast and scale of it so large, it’s hard to imagine," said Dr. Laurie Leshin.
JPL Director, Dr. Laurie Leshin is an Arizona native and ASU alum. She’s now the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA’s only federally-funded research and development center.
They build the robots that comb the surface of Mars and their Pasadena campus was surrounded by the Eaton Fire.
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Los Angeles wildfires: Phoenix native loses home to flames
As crews continue to try and contain the wildfires burning in the Los Angeles area, some of those affected are trying to put their lives back together, but for some, that is not an easy task.
"It’s irreplaceable. There’s hardware getting ready to fly into space in our lab. Laboratories that do exquisitely challenging technical work that just could not be replaced," Dr. Leshin said.
While the campus survived, the buildings were evacuated.
Two hundred scientists lost their homes, including several ASU alums.
"It’s the first time in 60 years that we’ve closed our operation center on lab. No people in it. There’s literally been people in that room 24/7 365 since 1963," said Dr. Leshin.
Local perspective:
Ernest Cisneros at ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration says their mission to control the mast cam Z on the Perseverance Rover halted.
"We’re shutting down the lab and that was really the ‘oh, this is really serious (moment),’" Cisneros said.
The ASU Control Center paused since the rover was also mostly paused as the people of JPL moved off campus.
Back to normal
What's next:
This morning, after more than a week, operations finally resumed on deep space missions.
"Recovery is still ongoing even though we’re back to operations," said Cisneros. "The focus is still if you need to be worried about your home, health, whatever; that’s what you need to do."
Dr. Leshin is staying positive, hoping the missions get back on track and provide some happiness amidst the widespread destruction.
"We lost no data. We were in touch with all the missions we needed to be talking to. Now, we’re back and it’s really a heroic story," she said.
What you can do:
A fund has been started for the hundreds of JPL scientists that lost their homes, for those who wish to help them out.