LOS ANGELES – Devastating fires here have forced the closure and evacuation of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as flames came less than one mile away from the facility.
JPL, which operates robotic spacecraft and the Deep Space Network used for planetary missions, is located in a mandatory evacuation zone but officials have not reported any damage from the fire thus far.
JPL director Laurie Leshin posted on X Jan. 8 that the facility had been damaged by the strong winds.
“JPL is closed except for emergency personnel,” she wrote. “No fire damage so far (some wind damage) but it is very close to the lab. Hundreds of JPLers have been evacuated from their homes & many have lost homes. Special thx to our emergency crews. Pls keep us in your thoughts & stay safe.”
JPL last updated its emergency page Jan. 8, stating that the site would remain closed until Monday, Jan. 13.
“Currently, JPL facilities, labs and hardware are secured and protected,” the announcement reads. “Deep Space Network operations, normally conducted at JPL, have been moved offsite to a back-up operations center.”
The Eaton Fire erupted Jan. 7 in the Eaton Canyons alongside other devastating fires in Los Angeles County that were spurred by several days of unusually strong winds. As of Thursday afternoon, it had spread to nearly 10,600 acres and is considered to be 0% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Over 50,000 people have evacuated the immediate area of the Eaton Fire, and five casualties have been reported.
JPL, operated for NASA by the California Institute of Technology, is one of the agency’s lead centers for space and Earth science missions. It developed and operated many of the agency’s best-known robotic missions, from the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft that explored the outer solar system to the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers. It is also the lead center for the Mars Sample Return program.
The 168-acre lab has facilities for assembling, testing and operating such missions. It also manages the Deep Space Network, the collection of antennas in Australia, California and Spain that handles communications with NASA missions beyond Earth orbit.
JPL has a full-time workforce of about 5,500 after laying off several hundred employees in February and November 2024.